Fire and Ice
by Raye of the Sunshine
Summary: HitsuKarin. He is ice; she is fire. They do not mix. So why is this happening?
1. New Beginnings

Ha ha, hi. I know, it's one in the morning, but who cares? Anyway, I sincerely hope you guys like this. This is my first Bleach fanfiction, so I apologize if characters come across as OOC. I also know that I really should be updating Kyuubi Hallows but the thing is, I've come across another block for that story and I decided to go ahead with this one.

For THIS story, I'll be updating weekly. That way I can have time to edit and write more chapters in advance. This is also the first story I have truly edited on my own.

DISCLAIMER GOES HERE.

* * *

"Toshiro Hitsugaya…" A young, fifteen-year-old, black-haired girl sighed as she looked out the window. "I wonder when I get to wear that kimono. I mean, I have power too, right? Okay, maybe not as much as Ichi-nii, but I want… to..." she trailed off as an image of a boy appeared in her mind's eye. He wore a black kimono with a white jacket over it, emblazoned with the number ten. His hair was a soft, white, spiky type, and his eyes were a beautiful sea-green teal.

"Ugh, Karin, get a grip girl. That guy isn't going to come back. After all, he was here to defend Karakura Town only from really bad Hollows. And you _know_ that he left years ago," she berated herself. It didn't stop her wishing he would come back, but… she couldn't help it. Karin wanted to play soccer with him again, and after that she wanted to eat ice cream with him.

"It doesn't stop me from wanting to fight alongside him," she whispered to herself. "I want to fight on my own, not have anyone protect me." Then she humphed to herself. "And it isn't my fault he's so handsome!"

A voice laughed behind her. "So I'm handsome and you're mad?" Karin gasped and turned to find Toshiro sitting right next to her. "Hello Karin."

Karin turned scarlet. "You! What are you doing in my room, let alone my house?!" she cried, attempting to kick him. Hey, kicking is hard to do on a bed. He easily jumped away, but not before she made some contact on his shin.

"And," he retorted, wincing slightly as he fingered the tender skin, "is kicking people your immediate reaction?"

"Well, yeah, if there's a guy _on my bed_, and especially if he's on it without my permission. Or knowledge." Then she began to blush as the thought dawned upon her that she had no idea how long he'd been there. "What, exactly, did you hear?" she demanded.

Toshiro shrugged. "Something about wanting to fight alongside me. And also wanting to wear the clothes that shinigami wear."

Karin blushed harder as she realized that he had heard nearly the entire conversation. In fact, he probably heard all of it, but he just didn't want to tell her that. Inwardly she moaned. She didn't want to come across as a girly sort of girl; she liked being referred to as a tomboy. No, she wasn't at all like Yuzu or the girls on her soccer team. "Well, anyway, what are you doing here? Is Karakura Town in danger from really bad Hollows again?"

"No," he said simply.

They stared at each other for several moments before Karin broke the silence. "Then why are you here? I didn't do anything bad did I?"

Toshiro broke his composure. "I came here to see you, you idiot!" he snapped in an annoyed tone. As soon as the words left his mouth he looked like he hadn't meant to say that at all.

"You… you did? But why? Surely an elite guy like you has other stuff to do." _I mean, I'm only a human girl that is sister to a shinigami representative and can see Hollows. I can't do anything special at all. Not like Orihime-nee-chan._

"If you mean that I should be doing paperwork rather than visiting you, then I honestly wonder what your priorities are."

"That's all you do?" she asked, perplexed. She then realized that she hadn't asked him if he wanted anything to drink, he was still on her bed, and they were awfully close. "Do you want something to drink Toshiro?" she quickly asked, hoping that he'd overlook her inhospitality.

"If that's all right with you," he said politely, sliding off her bed and standing. As she led the way out of her and Yuzu's room, he said, "No, that's not all we captains do. But it's a lot of what we do."

"You'll have to tell me all about it," she said brightly as they reached the kitchen. She then laughed. "I'm sorry, but I am not the best at making tea. That sort of stuff is left for my sister."

"I see. Well, I'm sure I'll be able to choke down whatever you make." At that comment, Karin threw the teapot at him. He caught it easily and tossed it back at her. "Do you intend to seriously injure me today?"

"Yes. Yes I do," she muttered sarcastically.

"You're going to need to get a whole lot better at it then."

"Okay, fine, Mr. Hoity-Toity. I'll be really strong one day, and you'll seriously regret ever telling me that."

Toshiro smirked. "I'd like to see you try to defeat me, a captain of the Gotei 13." _And a boy genius to boot,_ he added in his head.

"Lessee, my brother Ichigo Kurosaki defeated that captain Kenpachi Zaraki his first try, and almost without shikai. If he can defeat a really strong shinigami while trying to rescue a friend and in a hurry, then I can defeat you in an easy one-on-one combat. Seriously, you underestimate me." By now the tea was ready. She poured two cups and handed one to him.

"You said you came because you missed me. There's a real reason, isn't there?" she asked, sitting down and sipping her tea.

"Yes." He sighed. Right now, he really hated Captain-Commander Yamamoto. It seriously wasn't fair that he had to do this. Honestly! Trying to force this out of her could end up with her dead.

"Well? Are you going to sit there, staring at your tea, or are you going to tell me what it is?" Karin demanded. Seeing him so quiet was not unusual, but she felt somewhat uneasy about it.

Toshiro stood up. "I suggest we go somewhere more open. We'll need lots of room."

Karin stared at him. That wasn't exactly answering her question. "Hey, Toshiro, you're not answering my question. What is it? Is my brother in trouble with the Soul Society?"

At the mention of her brother Toshiro smirked somewhat. "No. He's being a good shinigami representative. It's because of _you_ that I'm here."

Karin blinked in surprise. "M-me? Why me?I've only managed to defeat small fry Hollows, and I had Ururu and Jinta with me."

"I know. But this isn't my choice. If it were up to me, I'd let your powers be. However, this is Captain-Commander Yamamoto's order, and as such I must follow it." Without waiting for her reply, he took her hand. "I will explain once we get somewhere with more room." With that statement, he flash-stepped out of the house and towards the only open space he could recall that would be empty at this time of day- the soccer field.

Karin looked around her. "Why the soccer field?" she asked, surprised.

"Well, it seemed like the best place for this," he muttered. With that, he popped a soul candy into his mouth and burst out of his gigai. Toshiro looked at his gigai, who nodded and ran off.

Karin had watched with interest. "Why'd you send him away?"

"Because this could be extremely dangerous," Toshiro answered vaguely.

"Huh?" was her intelligent reply.

Toshiro sat and indicated for her to sit. She sat and watched him attentively. "Captain-Commander Yamamoto wants you to become a shinigami representative just like your brother," he said simply.

She stared at him. "But, that's impossible. No way. I thought you had to be dead to become a shinigami."

"Well, seeing as your brother is _obviously_ alive, you're wrong. There is a way to become a shinigami without dying. But like I said, it's really dangerous." He unsheathed his zanpakto. "It is for a human to thrust a shinigami's zanpakto through their heart and at the same time for the shinigami to pour some of their power into the human."

Karin's jaw dropped. "That's how Ichi-nii became a shinigami? Incredible!" She jumped up throwing her fist in the air.

Toshiro looked up at her, shocked. "You're all right with that? Seriously?"

"Well, no, but, I'm being ordered to, aren't I? So I can't go against an order." She calmed down somewhat. "However, what I want to know is, why me? Isn't Ichi-nii enough? I know he's in college and all, but it's not likely he's going to move away. And you have enough shinigami to patrol the area in case a Hollow shows up, don't you?"

"I've been asking that myself. I think the reason is because you're Kurosaki's sister and therefore would be a good addition to the shinigami ranks. We wouldn't have to patrol here because you'd be here, we'd have fewer casualties that way, when you actually die you'll immediately be added to a squad, that sort of thing. They… ordered me to… do this because…" he was unusually struggling with this it seemed, "I know you best. Personally, I mean. Kuchiki fears that if she does this again she'll lose her powers all over again. It'd be stupid to try to force Kurosaki to do it, because you're his sister and he doesn't know how to control his spiritual pressure in the first place." He held his zanpakto out to her chest. "Do you want to become a shinigami representative Karin Kurosaki?" he asked solemnly.

She grasped it with both hands. Her face looked serious. "Yes. I want to become a shinigami representative." Karin then thrust the blade through her heart.

* * *

Thank you for reading!

I actually have a question- does anyone know how long zanpaktos usually are? Is thirty inches unusually long? Wait, scratch that, I have three. Would you pretty please help me name her zanpakto? No, she isn't going to suddenly get shikai, I just want to have its name ahead of time so I can work on describing the spirit of the zanpakto and stuff.

Here are some choices:

Homai (or is it homae?)- fire dance

Honeko- fire cat

Honaga- fire dragon

OTHER?! If so, please tell me and I will consider it.

Please consider that I haven't the slightest clue if that is what they actually mean or if that is how they are actually spelled. I have about one percent in knowledge of Japanese grammar- that the verb is ALWAYS last. I think. Oh, and it's 'one dog, two dog'. XD

Oh, and I know that there is both sub and dub mixed in. I have influences from both. I also have influence mostly from the anime since I have hardly read the manga (though I am well aware that there was no such thing as the Bount arc in the manga). It isn't because I hate the manga! I just don't have easy access to it.

And in Word, the stupid red lines appear when I write 'Toushirou' and eventually I got so sick of it that I just went with 'Toshiro'. The same goes with other 'ou' words.

Please review! :D


	2. A Pressuring Loss

Heeyyyyy! Okay, so it isn't exactly one week, but I got such a positive feedback for the first I decided not to wait until Monday. And Saturdays are easier in the long run to update on.

DISCLAIMER GOES HERE.

* * *

A burst of spiritual pressure erupted from the soccer field. To everyone else, it felt like a miniature earthquake. But to Toshiro, it felt like his energy had been sapped out of him. He looked to see Karin grinning an incredible smile, grasping her own zanpakto. Toshiro looked at himself and gasped. Then he began to scream.

"This, this is _impossible!_" he shouted, looking at his clothing. He was wearing a pure white, simple kimono.

Karin looked at him, surprised. _So the great Captain Hitsugaya can actually scream like a little girl, eh?_ she thought, smirking slightly.

Toshiro saw the smirk, but misread it. "This isn't funny!" he screeched.

Karin stared at him, and then whacked him on the head. "Shut up Toshiro! You think that screaming's going to help you?" She glared at him.

He glared back before responding. "I have a reason for screaming," he grumbled. "My powers are gone. Why else am I wearing this?" He tugged on his plain kimono. "Plus," he said in a panicked voice, "I can't hear Hyorinmaru!"

"Who's that?" Karin asked.

"My zanpakto!"

"Whoa, your zanpakto can speak to you?" Karin asked. She looked at hers. "Can mine speak to me?"

For the first time Toshiro looked at her zanpakto. It was an unusually long one; he suspected it to be around thirty inches long. Attached at the end of the handle was a long scarlet split ribbon. Her sheath was a bright red, and he could see that her hilt was in the shape of a flame. Then he realized she was waiting on him. "Oh, uh, yeah, but most shinigami don't find out their zanpakto's name for a while." _So you have a fire zanpakto, eh? Fire and ice don't mix you know._

"Toshiro, what are you going to do?" Karin asked, looking him over.

He looked down. "I don't know." For the first time in a very long time, Toshiro Hitsugaya felt like crying. He forced himself together before that could happen. "I suppose I'll have to live in my gigai form until my powers come back. In the mean time, I'll be helping you get used to being a shinigami." That had, after all, been part of the orders.

"Come stay at my place, as you obviously have no where else to go," she offered. "Since Ichi-nii is at college, you can probably take his room. Unless Pops decides you'll sleep on the couch." She shook her head, already imagining the reaction her family would have.

"First, you need to get into your body while I find my gigai," Toshiro ordered. He scanned the area in hopes of finding his gigai as well as her body. At last he found them. Inwardly he moaned out of embarrassment. His gigai was lying on top of her body! Toshiro figured that he was trying to protect her from the blast of spiritual pressure, but that didn't make the embarrassment any less.

Karin had noticed as well apparently. "What is he doing lying on my body?" she demanded in a smoldering voice.

"I think he was trying to protect it from the blast," Toshiro said almost feebly.

She stormed over to his gigai and promptly kicked him hard off her body, which she then proceeded to slip into. He winced at the thought of slipping into his and feeling that pain, but he had no other choice. With reluctance he got into his gigai and at once felt the searing pain in his side.

"You know," he said through clenched teeth, "you _could_ have nudged me or something. Now I really hurt." He moaned in pain as he shifted his body to find the source of it. Yup, she had bruised a couple of ribs. Ouch ouch ouch.

"Sorry about that. But I grew up with the idea to not let a guy just lie down on you." She was dusting off her clothes as she looked around. "Wow, it looks like we created a small crater. We'd better go before anyone investigates this place." Karin took his hand and led him away, back towards where they had come.

Normally he would have yanked his hand back and flash-stepped to wherever he needed to go, but this was not to be the case. First, he had lost almost all of his shinigami powers and second, he felt the need to have someone hold his hand. But no one was going to know that.

Eventually they made it home as the sun was setting. As Karin reached to open the door, it burst open with a wild cry coming from within, "KARIN-CHAAAAAAAAAAN!!"

"Wh-what?" Toshiro let out, instinctively reaching over his shoulder for his sword. Upon remembering that Hyorinmaru wasn't there, his hand froze. He watched, perplexed, as Karin was tackled by a big burly man, and perplexed still as she kicked said man back into the house.

"Geeze! Now that Ichi-nii's not home you're picking on us more often!" she shouted, shoving her shoes off her feet. She glared down at his now whimpering form threateningly, and then moved on into the kitchen. "Oi! Yuzu! I've brought a friend home!"

At the last statement, the man that Toshiro assumed to be her father looked at him. Both men's eyes widened with shock. However, Toshiro had the sneaking suspicion that it wasn't for the same reason.

"Oh, my darling wife! Our daughter has brought home her first boyfriend!" Mr. Kurosaki cried, pressing himself against a large poster of a woman. Toshiro felt a vein pop out. He was going to be spending who knew _how_ long with this idiot?

"To think he was once a captain!" Toshiro muttered angrily under his breath.

"Who was?" Karin asked suddenly from behind him.

"Stop that!" he hissed at her.

"Oh, sorry, but you'd better sit down. You know, before my dad starts sobbing on you or something." She guided him to sit next to her, ignoring her father and his jabbering to the poster.

Toshiro looked at the other girl, standing at the stove. She had straight blond hair that fell past her shoulders. He figured she was about the same age as Karin, maybe a year or so younger. The girl turned, and he got a better look at her face. Looking back at the poster, he made the quick connection that she looked more like her mother than her father. "Who is she?" he asked.

"My sister Yuzu," Karin answered, pouring some milk for herself and shoving the carton his way. "Pour some for yourself if you want."

He did so. "Is she older or younger than you?"

"She's my younger twin. We aren't anything alike though. She's pretty and feminine, while I'm… I'm tomboyish." _It's arrogant to say that you yourself are pretty. And if you say you're ugly, then it makes it sound like you're looking for praise. Besides, there's no way I'd be as good-looking as you Toshiro._

"You don't think you're pretty?" Toshiro asked, somewhat surprised. It wasn't as if he thought she'd be conceited. He thought that, since _he_ thought she was pretty, she would think that about herself. Wait, where was the logic in that again?

Karin opened her mouth to answer but was interrupted by her father. "So, what is your name? We have not yet heard the name of Karin-chan's fiancé!"

Toshiro turned red with a mixture of fury and embarrassment. "I am not engaged to her!" he cried. "And my name is Toshiro Hitsugaya."

"Pops, honestly, he's just a friend," Karin said, taking Toshiro's side. _But I wish we weren't. Wait, did I just think that?!_

"Toshiro-kun, what school do you go to?" Yuzu asked, sitting down at last.

Toshiro twitched and almost snapped, "It's Captain Hitsugaya to _you_," but instead replied with, "I am going to Karakura High tomorrow." After all, he had erased the memories of anyone who would remember that he had already been there once. Since he was staying a while he'd have to stick with Karin wherever she went. "Unfortunately, I haven't got anywhere to stay." It was somewhat true, Orihime had offered her place for whenever he wanted, but he'd rather be in the same place as Karin. You know. Because of his job and all. It wasn't, you know, for any _personal_ reasons.

"Oh, you could have onii-chan's room," Yuzu offered.

"I don't think that would be a good idea. After all, your onii-chan might get terribly mad if he finds a strange young man sleeping in his bed!" laughed Isshin.

"But Ichi-nii doesn't come back with Orihime-nee-chan for weeks!" protested Karin. "At least let him stay there until Ichi-nii comes home for holidays."

Isshin put on a somewhat serious face and thought about it. "All right! That makes some sense! You, my wonderful daughter's boyfriend, will stay in my delinquent son's room!" Then he started to laugh.

Both Toshiro and Karin growled and several veins appeared to pop out. "I'm not her boyfriend!" Toshiro shouted at the same time Karin exclaimed, "He's not my boyfriend!" At that statement Karin stomped up the stairs with mutterings of "Stupid idiot father."

"Wow Toshiro-kun, you eat a lot," Yuzu commented to break the silence. It was then that Toshiro noticed that he had been eating as much as she said. Shame flooded his cheeks as he stood up.

"I'll go upstairs," he muttered. Before she could call him back, he raced up towards Ichigo's room.

* * *

Thanks a million for my reviewers! I'm getting tired of listing my replies and stuff like that for everyone, so I'll just reply to you privately (next chapter).

Now, for Karin's zanpakto's name, the stats are

Honaga- fire dragon (3)

Honeko- fire cat (1)

Kakiwa- fire ring (1) (this is Hawaiian--or at least, the reviewer thought it was)

Homai (homae?)- fire dance (0)

Do you want to keep your favorite to win? Please vote! One vote per person mind you (if you give a vote and a suggestion they both count)!


	3. Like A Soccerball

OMG you will NOT believe what happened to my internet these past few weeks! It DIED. And it wouldn't reboot! But today my dad got it fixed somehow so now I can upload stories! :D

DISCLAIMER OF DOOM GOES HERE.

Oh, yeah, don't worry, there will be a chapter come Saturday. I'm just catching up.

* * *

When he arrived at the door, he stopped. Should he really be taking Ichigo's room without his knowledge? When he came home, he would certainly throw a fit. Toshiro didn't have anywhere else to stay, did he? Even though he knew that Orihime had offered him a place to stay and he should not be in the Kurosaki home, he entered the room.

After he shut the door he slid to the floor. This wasn't going to be an easy job, especially since he didn't have sufficient spiritual pressure to properly train Karin. He furrowed his eyebrows. Rukia's attempt hadn't done so well, or maybe it was just because Ichigo was an idiot. Toshiro smirked. Karin seemed much more sensitive to a Hollow and its location. It was obvious from the last time he had seen her.

_Flashback_

_Toshiro was positive that this meeting was one of the most boring ones ever, and he _swore_ that Captain Kuchiki and Captain Soi Fon were asleep. As reports of their worsening situation in the ongoing war slid in one ear and out the other, he studied the other captains. Zaraki was tapping his foot in boredom, Ukitake was looking at the ceiling, and that new guy was paying rapt attention to Captain-Commander Yamamoto. He himself was about to attempt to go to sleep when he heard his name._

"_Captain Hitsugaya."_

"_Yes, Captain-Commander?"_

"_You are to go to Karakura Town, by yourself, and turn Karin Kurosaki into a shinigami representative."_

_Toshiro's eyes widened in shock. "No!" he cried. "She would surely die!"_

_Captain-Commander Yamamoto's eyes crinkled- was he smiling? "If she is truly Ichigo Kurosaki's younger sister, then she will live and do a fine job. You yourself said that she has high spiritual pressure and that she can pinpoint a Hollow's location. That in itself is good enough. Plus, I hear from Rukia Kuchiki that Ichigo Kurosaki is away, and seeing as we need our shinigami here and ready to fight, Karakura Town is defenseless against Hollow and Arrancar attacks. Since she has high spiritual pressure, Karin Kurosaki would be an easy target."_

_Toshiro sighed in defeat. Captain-Commander was right. "I understand sir. But why, may I ask, am I supposed to do this?"_

"_You know her best out of all the captains. While she does know your vice-captain and vice-captain Abarai, as well as Rukia Kuchiki, I believe that you are the best suited for this. We want someone who has self-control, can train her, and someone that knows her. It is an added bonus that you look closer to her age."_

"_So, I am to turn her into a shinigami representative and train her. For how long do you wish me to train her?"_

"_I would like you to stay with her for at least six months, longer if you see fit. She needs to know everything about this war and she must be prepared to fight in it like her brother and his companions."_

"_S-six months?! Captain-Commander, you can't possibly expect me to leave my squad to my vice-captain for that long." Oh, the _paperwork_…_

_Captain-Commander chuckled slightly. "Yes, I do. Don't worry; I personally will make sure that your paperwork is being done."_

_End Flashback_

Toshiro looked at the bed. It obviously had not been slept in for a while. He could feel eyes on him. "I know you're here," he muttered. Instantly a toy lion popped out of the closet.

"What are _you_ doing here?" it demanded.

"My business is none of yours. I just wanted you to come out so I knew where you were." Kon started whining about something or other, and to make him shut up Toshiro thrust him back in the closet. "Be quiet already," he ordered, annoyed.

A knock sounded from the door. Karin poked her head in. "Hey, can I come in?"

"Go ahead." He sat down on the bed, waiting for her to come in. She headed over and sat down next to him.

"Do you miss Soul Society?" she asked after a few minutes.

"Well, I can't, seeing as I was only there this morning."

"In other words, yes, you do." Karin grinned at him.

Toshiro made a face. He did not like that she could read his words so easily. "I'm going to. Seeing as I was going to be with you for six months to start with. Now I think I'll have to stay longer so I whenever I get my spiritual pressure back I can start training you to use yours properly."

"You're going to be training me?" Karin asked, surprised.

He sent her an icy stare. "You're insane if you think I'm going to let you wander around, attempting to fight Hollows on your own and not knowing how to properly perform soul burials. Plus, Soul Society is in a war and the more capable warriors we have the better."

Karin sent him a hot glare. "You're telling me they ordered me to become a shinigami simply because you guys are in some stupid war?!"

He flinched away from her. He was ice, she was fire. They do not mix. So what was he doing, being in such close proximity to her? "I believe it to be so. Captain-Commander Yamamoto said as much."

"_Why_ didn't you tell me before I signed up for this?" she demanded hotly.

He sighed, then said frostily, "It is part of the duty of a shinigami. You are expected to follow orders, to fight for your squad, and to fight in any war. Right now we're in a war that's been going on for a few years."

"How long then?" Karin asked.

"You bounce around a lot of subjects, you know that?" Toshiro commented, looking at her.

She laid back on the bed. "Like a soccer ball I guess. And could you please answer my question?"

"Four years now. Actually, since at least a couple months before I saw you last." Karin stared up at him in shock.

"That long?" she asked in a small voice.

"We've had worse. However, I suspect this to be a very long battle."

"Why?" She was annoyingly curious.

"It's because three captains are leading the opposing side. Actually, only one, but the other two are helping nonetheless."

"And since these were captains, they know everyone and their abilities?"

"Well, pretty much. At least, the stronger people anyway." His frown deepened, and the atmosphere charged up.

However, Karin spoiled it by jumping up and kicking the door open. "How many times must it be done?!" she screeched. "Don't listen in on private conversations!" Toshiro craned his head to see Isshin and Yuzu sprawled on the floor, drinking glasses next to them.

_Holy Hougyouku! I wonder how much they heard?_ he thought.

Apparently, Karin was thinking the same thing. "How much did you hear?" she demanded.

It was Yuzu who answered. "Only something about stronger people nee-chan." She seemed ashamed at having been caught eavesdropping.

"Yeah, well, don't listen anymore, and if you could please refrain Pops from doing it too, I would greatly appreciate it." With that, Karin shut the door.

Toshiro raised an eyebrow as she regained her former position. "Does that happen often?"

"Yeah, unfortunately. Could you continue?"

"Aizen, the leader, he… It's a long story and it starts in many places."

Karin frowned. She wasn't going to let him not tell her. She'd know everything, even if she had to resort to kicking him in the leg. "Start with this Aizen guy then."

"All right then. First, he set up an elaborate plot to retrieve a special item called the Hougyouku. It has immense spiritual pressure and can do a bunch of different stuff."

"So it's the whole 'if it falls into the wrong hands bad stuff will happen' cliché?"

"I suppose. Second, he faked his own death, and left his vice-captain a note. In it, he said that I was planning to take over the entire Soul Society and that he was going to confront me. His vice-captain, my friend Momo Hinamori, believed him and attacked me. It wasn't me of course, but no talking was going to convince her. She was so infatuated with him, everything he said was infallible. Momo hasn't been the same since. She's currently still in a coma, though she did wake up once."

Karin fell silent. A coma was almost as bad as death. The death of someone very close, like a dear friend or a parent, was the worse. "I think I know how you feel, in that respect. But please, continue."

He stopped to look at her. She was extremely good at concealing her feelings. However, it was obvious to him (maybe it was from many years of experience) that she was thinking of something upsetting. Deciding not to push it, he pressed on. "His plot involved Rukia Kuchiki. You remember her, correct?"

Karin rolled her eyes. "Of course I do. She was complaining about sleeping in our room when apparently she had been sleeping in Ichigo's closet before. I forced it out of Orihime that Rukia had been staying in our house for a while, had been sleeping in Ichigo's closet, and she had been wearing my sister's pajamas. No wonder we couldn't find them. What about her?"

"Well, you remember I was talking about a gigai earlier." She nodded. "Good. Rukia had lost her powers the same way I had- giving your brother his powers. She had received a gigai. However, this one sucked away her spiritual pressure instead of giving it back. It also carried the Hougyouku."

Karin listened with rapt attention as he explained how her brother had broken into the Seireitei with his friends. How he had saved Rukia from being executed by an order that was false. Toshiro had explained the Central 46 and how he had found that they had been dead for a long time; even before Rukia's execution order had been issued, therefore making it invalid. He explained what he had been doing in Karakura when she had first met him, and what Las Noches was. She had gasped in shock when he told her Orihime had been kidnapped and sighed in relief when he said that when that had come to light, Orihime was again considered an ally of Soul Society.

It may not have seemed like it, but she had the niggling feeling that Aizen had hurt him more than just laying false blame upon him and making a friend of his turn against him. When he had finished, she asked quietly, "Do you love Momo?"

He turned his head very, very slowly, as if that would make a difference in his hearing. "Huh?" was his extremely intelligent reply.

"Do… do you love Momo?" she asked again, blushing this time. She was stepping into uncharted territory here.

Toshiro opened his mouth to reply but no words came. Momo was only a childhood friend, right? Besides, he didn't have time to waste over something as silly as love. "In a way," he answered quietly.

"Enough to make you infuriated with this Aizen guy, even though you're only recounting events and explaining a situation to someone who's never even heard of the Soul Society?"

"Yes. Momo is an old childhood friend of mine. She wanted to enter into the Gotei 13 because of Aizen, she worked hard and tried to quickly move through the ranks because of Aizen, and then, he betrayed her. He destroyed her world. Now she's suffering and has been lying dormant in a coma for four years."

"I… I see." No, she didn't see. Karin had no one special enough in her life to be that much of a hero for her. When she was little, the heart of her family had died- her mom. Nothing had replaced that since then. "If it helps in any way, I lost my mom when I was little. Ichigo told me that a Hollow killed her."

That grabbed Toshiro's attention. "A Hollow? But why?"

Karin shrugged. "I don't know. But what I do know is this- Ichi-nii and I have strong spiritual pressure, and Yuzu has a little. Pops, I don't know how much he has. But anyway, it's possible it's because Mom had high spiritual pressure too. Or maybe she was protecting Ichi-nii, who does, from that Hollow."

Karin's logic did make sense- her family was a very yummy treat for Hollows. "I guess that makes sense. Why that Hollow appeared right after our soccer game."

Karin brightened. "You remembered! I'm glad."

"I don't forget stuff easily. I remember when I was little I could eat a watermelon half in less than a minute."

"Say whaaaaat? No way!" she shook her head in disbelief.

"It's true. I have a long memory."

Karin stared at him with her eyebrows raised. "Just how old are you Toshiro?"

"Nearly eighty."

Suddenly it became the quietest it had ever been in Karin's life. "N-no way. No way. You can't be eighty! Toshiro, you don't even look twenty!" She shook her head in defiance.

He looked at her, a ghost of a smile dancing across his lips. "We age extremely slowly in Soul Society. I will take it as a compliment. Though if you say that I look like a middle school student, I will be frustrated."

"Well, no, you grew a bit. Now you just look like a super short high school student."

He sighed tiredly. "I guess that'll have to do."

"Toshiro, are you afraid that people will look down on you because you're short? That's impossible. You're smart, and helpful, and strong, and handsome…"

"Handsome, you say?" Toshiro asked, wondering if she had really meant to tell him that.

Apparently not. She immediately blushed and stammered out, "N-no, I mean yes! I mean, ugh, this is stupid. Yes, you are handsome. It's obvious. Your hair is a clean white, and it's soft. And whether you like it or not, your eyes are a beautiful color."

"My hair is soft?" he asked, puzzled.

Karin stared at him, but then patted his head. "Silly, of course your hair is soft. Have you never felt your hair before?" She laughed a little.

"Excuse me, I've never felt the need to check if my hair was soft." He touched his hair and figured that his hair was soft, even though he had nothing to compare it to. The Captain of the Tenth Squad did not go around patting people's heads to check if their hair was soft. "Aren't you afraid of anything?"

"Yes, lots of things. Mostly I'm afraid of people getting scared of me."

"There's a reason for that you know. It's your ferocious kicks."

"I know that. But that's my answer."

Toshiro looked out the window. It was dark, stars were scattered everywhere. "It's beautiful, looking at the sky." He turned to look at her. "Your hair reminds me of it. That beautiful midnight sky."

She blushed. Did he mean it? For a moment, it felt like something would happen. Karin didn't know what, but something. Blinking, she forced herself to get together. "I'm going to go to bed, good night Toshiro." With that remark, she patted his hair again and left the room.

Toshiro fell back to the bed with a _whump!_ and groaned.

* * *

Ha ha, I've ALWAYS wanted Toshiro to fail at complimenting a girl. XD

For the name contest, HONAGA is in the lead by at least two! I use DeviantArt votes as well as fanfiction votes! Do you want them again? Here they are (without the number of votes)!

Honaga- fire dragon

Honeko- fire cat

Kawaki- fire ring (this isn't Hawaiian, it just LOOKS Hawaiian. It is actually Japanese)

Homai (mae? I really need that cleared up)- fire dance


	4. A NotSoNormal School Day

Ba ha ha, insert evil annoying friend-turned-fangirl! XD Here's the side story- Karin and her male soccer buddies still play soccer together, but nowadays she's on an official soccer team for her school and therefore must be on an all-girls team. She has some friends there, but as you can see, they're not very good friends are they?

DISCLAIMER OF DOOM GOES HEREEEEEE.

And no, there won't be any IchiHime here. BUT THERE WILL NOT BE ANY ICHIRUKI EITHER. So there. :D

Has ANYONE besides me realized that there ARE NO HitsuKarin and IchiHime stories?! HOW CAN THIS BEEEE?? I'd write some myself but I usually don't like to read what I write (if you know what I mean).

* * *

When she entered the classroom the next day, Karin noticed that a bunch of her classmates were muttering. Not that that was unusual, it was just they were doing it with extra fervor. Wandering over to her longtime soccer friends she heard a snippet of their conversations.

"-new student-"

"-rich family-"

"-handsome?"

"-Tokyo-"

"So, what's going on?" Karin asked, dropping her bag on her desk with a bang. Her friends started to excitedly jabber about something, each trying to tell her whatever it was. However, it was getting all jumbled. She sighed. "Uh, hello? One at a time please."

The banana-top spoke first. "There's a new guy! From what we've heard, he's from Tokyo!"

Then the afro-kid spoke up. "Yeah, and apparently he's from a rich family, so he'll probably be a snob."

Karin frowned. "Just because someone's rich doesn't mean they're snobs. I mean, look at the Sohma family. They're reclusive, yeah, but they're actually kind people." That fact was common knowledge. Everyone had heard of the Sohma family.

Her friend with the glasses added, "Plus, he's apparently good-looking. I wonder who he is?"

At that point, her teacher walked in. "All right class, settle down. Is everyone here? Okay, good. Today we've got a new student, so be nice. You can come in now," she called to the door.

Karin looked out the window. She knew who it was, what he looked like, even that he ate as much as three men. There was no point in trying to get a good look at him now. She'd seen him in his uniform this morning already, and even though she'd never admit to anyone else, she thought he looked good with it on. Though she was telling herself not to look, she turned her head and stared just like everyone else in the class.

His eyes were locked on her, and soon enough everyone noticed. "My name is Toshiro Hitsugaya. I would appreciate it if everyone would only call me Hitsugaya." He did not smile, but at least he didn't frown. That had to be a small improvement at least.

The teacher coughed. "Oh, well, why don't you sit next to Yuzu Kurosaki? Kurosaki, raise your hand."

Toshiro was about to tell her that he already knew Yuzu, but he was quite sure that questions would be asked and that in the end it would be discovered that he was living with the Kurosakis. Not a good idea. Yuzu raised her hand, and he made his way to sit next to her. As he passed by, he heard several girls squeal and some moans of jealousy. Unfortunately, she was on the other end of the room, closer to the back by the wall. Karin was towards the front by the window.

At last, it was lunch time. Karin opened her bento and started eating without truly paying attention to what she was doing. "Oh my, Toshiro-kun is soooooo incredibly handsome!" Ami, a girl on Karin's soccer team, squealed with delight.

"I know! And he's really smart too," Hana, another soccer teammate, sighed dreamily.

"So?" Karin asked, bored.

"You make it seem like you see that sort of stuff everyday Karin. Come on, is _no_ guy good enough for you?" Ami asked, sounding hurt.

"Sure. He has to be good at soccer for starters." _Which, by the way, Toshiro is._ "And I'm pretty sure that he requested we call him Hitsugaya."

"I did." His voice startled them.

"To-Hitsugaya-kun!" Ami and Hana cried in surprise and delight.

"Hey Toshiro," Karin commented, popping more rice into her mouth. "What's up?"

"I have no interest eating lunch with those idiots." He pointed back towards the boys in their class. Karin rolled her eyes and nodded.

"Yeah, I get what you mean. They're really annoying at times, but I've played soccer with a few of them for ages."

"If you want Hitsugaya-kun, you can eat with us," Yuzu offered. She may have no idea why on earth Toshiro insisted to be called by his last name, but she understood that she and Karin were to pretend that today was the first time they had ever met him.

"I think I'll take you up on your offer." With that he sat down between Karin and Yuzu and opened his bento.

"Hitsugaya-kun, you have a healthy appetite, don't you?" Hana asked, awed. He had eaten his lunch in two minutes flat.

"Hmmm… I'm actually used to eating a lot more, but that was good." It was an inconspicuous compliment for Yuzu, who had painstakingly made three lunch boxes instead of two.

"You want mine?" Karin offered, holding out her box. "I'm not going to eat much more anyway."

"Karin, you know perfectly well I will inhale it and therefore you won't get anymore."

"Uh, that's why I'm offering it to you?" she made it to sound like she was questioning his sanity.

Ami and Hana looked on with jealousy as Toshiro then proceeded to finish off her and Yuzu's lunchboxes.

"Are you full now?" Karin asked, laughing. Suddenly, she stopped and straightened her back. "This feeling," she whispered. She looked over at Toshiro.

"Here," he said, and handed her a small green ball. "Swallow this. It'll make you feel better." He leaned closer and whispered into her ear, "That is a soul candy. It will replace your body while you defeat a Hollow. No one will be able to tell the difference."

Deciding to trust him, she popped it into her mouth. Suddenly, she was out of her body. "Should I head over to the Hollow then?" she asked.

"Absolutely not," he hissed under his breath. Louder, he said, "I'm going to the restroom." With that, he bolted away, Karin's spirit following him.

When they were a safe distance from the school, Karin panted, "So what do I do when I get there?"

"Take out your zanpakto and cut it through the mask. It is advisable to do so from the back, otherwise if you break the mask you might recognize the soul the Hollow once was."

She nodded in understanding and sped up towards the park. Once they arrived, she yanked out her zanpakto. "What now Toshiro?" she asked.

"Finding the Hollow would be a good idea." Instead, the Hollow found them. It howled and started to lumber towards the pair.

"All right, make sure you have a firm grip on your zanpakto." Karin gripped it harder. "Jump into the air and make a decisive slicing motion through the mask. Go all the way through." She did as she was told and killed it mid-howl.

"Is it always going to be that easy?" she asked, sheathing her sword.

"No. If that were true, we wouldn't be having a war right now." He looked around as if he was looking for something.

"Whatcha looking for?" Karin asked, following his line of gaze.

"A soul. Usually, a Hollow shows up because it has found a meal of a soul." At last he spotted it. "Come on. You're going to get your first lesson in soul burials." Carefully, he and Karin walked up to the shivering soul.

"I'm scared," the little girl whimpered, clutching onto what seemed to be a doll.

"Don't be. You're going to a good place," Toshiro said assuringly. "There are no monsters in the Soul Society." To Karin he whispered, "Take the end of your zanpakto and press it into her forehead. Pour a little of your spirit energy into it."

He watched Karin smile at the girl and gently press her forehead. As the soul departed, she turned to him. "Come on! Lunch is almost over." She ran off back towards the school.

They skidded into the classroom just in time (after Karin had climbed into her body). As soon as they sat down, the bell rang. Their classmates piled in, jumbled conversations bouncing around the room. "All right everyone, today we're starting our English unit," the teacher announced. At this, the class groaned. "Now, now, let's not have that. Get into pairs and try to carry on a conversation in English. When I call time, you'll all come up here and give us this conversation. The pair making the most sense and giving at least three sentences per person wins a prize. Now, pair up!"

The class burst into a frenzy as people began to partner up and begin speaking. Toshiro was surrounded by girls and a couple guys too, all begging to be his partner. He stood up and pushed his way through them without a word. "Hey," he said to Karin. "Be my partner." She stared up at him, expectant. "Please," he amended.

At this, she smiled and nodded. "Sure Toshiro." She pulled out the chair in front of her with her foot. "Sit, and we'll begin."

He sat, and crossed his arms over the back. "So, what do you want to say?" he asked.

"How's this?" she offered, showing him a written conversation in her notebook. "I figured that you'd ask me to be your partner."

He looked up. "How?"

"You've stuck by me all day silly. Of course I'd know." She patted his hair teasingly. "Anyway, do you know any English?"

"A little. Sometimes I've come across English-speaking souls here. You tend to pick it up after a while." _I also found the language interesting, but you'd find that nerdy, wouldn't you?_

"Good! Because Yuzu and I are the best English-speakers here. We sometimes get English-speaking patients at our family clinic."

"All right then. Let's form a conversation." They, like everyone else, began to speak to each other in English. But unlike everyone else, their conversation was kept to themselves. After ten minutes, the teacher called time.

"I hope you've all set up a good conversation! Let's put it to the test! Who wants to go first?" There was an upheaval of groups wanting to go first, so eventually she pointed her finger at Yuzu. "Since Yuzu Kurosaki is being quiet, she and her partner will go first." Then came the moans of disappointment. "Now, now, be polite."

Yuzu and her partner pulled off a passable conversation about food. There were a few Japanese words sprinkled in, but it was to be expected. The rest of the class was the exact opposite. They desperately threw words together, hoping to form a sentence or two. "All right, lastly, Hitsugaya and Karin Kurosaki. Maybe they'll do better than the rest of you."

"Is it just me, or did that sound hopeful?" Toshiro asked Karin in her ear.

"It did. Now just talk."

He rolled his eyes, but began. "**How are you Karin?**"

She answered easily with, "**I'm great, you?**"

"**Just fine. Do you want to go to the arcade?**"

"**That'd be great, but I think the weather won't permit it.**"

"**Oh. Well, we can find something else to do.**" At this, the two of them blushed inwardly. That sentence could mean so many things to the high school mind. As they continued their conversation, it turned more and more spontaneous and less and less of the class could understand even a word of what they were saying.

"**I like peaches. I wish we could eat some.**"

"**Peaches? Seriously?**" Toshiro laughed. "**I prefer watermelons myself. And I'm sure this isn't the season for peaches.**"

Karin stuck her tongue out at him. "**Thanks for crushing my spirit. I hate you.**"

"**I love you too Karin,**" Toshiro joked.

A blush dusted her cheeks. "**Do you have any pets where you live?**"

"**No.**"

"**Oh.**"

"**What a very intelligent reply.**"

At this, the teacher cut in. "Uh, you guys can stop now." The two looked up. They had obviously forgotten they were talking in front of a class.

"Hey, sensei, I couldn't follow half of what they were saying," a classmate piped up. "Were they really speaking good English?"

"That will be enough," she said back to him. "You two can sit down. Drop by after class for your prizes." The two of them returned to their seats. "One day you guys can be like them and carry on a conversation easily. Now, let's get started with these workbooks. Work in your original pairs and do the first two sections together."

The class grumbled, but got to work. Toshiro and Karin began working together quietly, occasionally asking one another if what they wrote was correct. Around them Karin could hear others' conversations.

They were about her and Toshiro now. Closest and loudest was Ami and Hana's conversation. "I can't _believe_ that Karin got paired with Hitsugaya-kun. It simply isn't fair!" Hana muttered to Ami.

"I know how you feel. Did you _see _them this morning? He looked at her for a full three minutes! "

"Ugh, yes, I saw that. He lets her call him Toshiro, so why not us? Plus, I _swear_ I heard him say I love you to her. Honestly! What did she say that could possibly make him say that?"

"I don't know Hana. Karin and her family have always been a bit weird. Just look at her brother. Apparently he tends to disappear for weeks on end."

There were many things Karin could handle. She could handle jealousy, pain, backstabbers, and a variety of other things. But one thing she couldn't handle was bad-mouthing her family. Her brother was the reason (probably) that those two could even talk like that! "Hey," she hissed to them. They looked up in surprise. "You can badmouth me all you want. But you can't badmouth my brother!" Having finished her statement, she went back to her work.

A minute or two of silence, and then the two began again. "Telling us what to do, typical of Karin. She has _such_ a fiery temper," muttered Ami.

"She's always talking about soccer. She makes it seem like that's all she thinks about. Plus, she's not even that pretty."

At that, Toshiro swiftly stood up and walked over to them. "Listen to me," he commanded in the iciest tone he could muster. "You will not badmouth Karin or her family. Be grateful that Ichigo is alive. Just because I find more interest in Karin than in either of you does not mean that it is all right for you to spew whatever hateful things you feel like. Karin is beautiful and intelligent and caring. Unlike you." With that, he sat back down, quickly finishing his work.

Inside, Karin was doing somersaults. Toshiro had defended her! "Hey, Toshiro?"

"Yes?"

"Thanks."

He was silent for a minute. "No problem."

* * *

By now, the poll won't have changed since I'm updating chapters three and four at the SAME TIME. So for poll listings, go back a chapter. AND REVIEW PLEASE.

Oh, and by high school, if you have recieved a good second language education (unlike myself) you can carry on a conversation. I'd LIKE to think that Karin and Yuzu sometimes recieve English speaking patients in their clinic because of various reasons (mainly visiting business men is my reason), and that Toshiro both thought the language interesting and comes across English speakers who happened to die while being in Japan (tourists mainly).

As for me, I'm the same age as Karin here, and I have NOT recieved a good enough education in Spanish. I started a REAL education in seventh grade, though I had clase de espanol in sixth grade. Our teacher decided to treat us like kindergarteners, therefore giving us little kid videos to watch and little kid hand motions to go through and little kid songs to sing. Uh, no. That won't work on eleven/twelve year olds.


	5. First Training Session

DISCLAIMER OF D00M GOES HERE.

Hey everyone, sorry I'm late. I was exhausted yesterday. I'm sure you all know of _Breaking Dawn_'s release. Sorry to offend any avid Twilight fans, but that book was a piece of crap, a waste of money, and a waste of time. And I do not use the word 'crap' unless I'm extremely serious about something. And I NEVER use it in my stories, even if the characters are more likely to- I simply cannot bring myself to. See how serious I am?

* * *

They stood facing each other in the empty soccer field. Toshiro had managed to get a pair of wooden swords from Urahara with slight difficulty (the stupid man insisted to know why he needed wooden ones- as if he didn't already know!). "All right, take your stance."

Karin shifted her body into what she thought would be a pretty good stance in a fight, but soon was corrected. "No. You'll leave your lower body open if you stand like that." Toshiro walked over and pulled her arms down and made her stick out her elbows. "That way you'll be able to defend your lower body and have more room to maneuver your sword." He nudged her feet into a better position as well. "You do not want to topple over or backwards."

"Thanks for the tips, but could we get started?" Karin asked impatiently. That he kept touching her was making her nervous.

"Impatience in battle is a costly error."

"Okay, oh wise-one. I'll try not to be me."

He raised an eyebrow. "I didn't know you were impatient."

"There are a lot of things you don't know about me." She jiggled her sword. "Now can we please get started?"

"All right then. You must hit me a total of ten times. If you do, we'll spar again. However, if I hit you one hundred times before you reach ten, we end for the day."

"Why do I get the feeling that this is going to be really short?" Karin asked, mostly to herself. Just then Toshiro dashed for her and it was all she could do to barricade with her sword.

"Don't talk to yourself and don't look away from the enemy," he ordered, stepping back. Before she could respond he was at it again. This time, he managed to whack her leg. "One."

She swung her sword in the hopes of hitting him, but he managed to both stop her and hit her again. "I knew this wasn't going to be easy," she panted after he had hit her for the thirtieth time. Karin had yet to hit him once.

"Yet you do not fight against challenge?" Toshiro asked. "If something is not easy, you're not going to give it your all?"

"Of course I am!" she cried, reacting to his taunts. She swung with a sudden ferocity that Toshiro couldn't defend and promptly whacked him hard on the head. "One!"

"If I can train you well enough, you'll be able to hit me ten times before I hit you even once," Toshiro stated. He readied his sword and charged.

Unbeknownst to them, they had spectators. Several of their female classmates had come to spy, er, _watch_ them. "What are they doing?" one of them asked.

"What does it look like? They're hitting each other with swords. And Hitsugaya-kun is totally kicking her butt!"

"I heard him say something about training her," another muttered. "That means they'll be doing this often!"

"What? No fair! Why does Karin get to have Hitsugaya-kun's time and energy?"

"Be quiet and watch," Hana ordered. They quieted down and turned back to the sparring match.

"One hundred," Toshiro announced at last. Karin was panting heavily and was sustaining some cuts.

"I managed to hit you three times. Is that any good?" she asked.

"Better than most, seeing as you hit me the most amount of times."

"I hope that means I'll be able to help you guys faster."

"It could be. Let's go home." He walked off the soccer pitch, her right behind.

"I hope Yuzu's cooking something good. I'm starving!"

He laughed. "If you're starving, I'm dying from hunger."

She laughed as well. "I hope Yuzu can handle feeding you. I'd hate for her to hurt herself trying to feed you. What in the world do you eat in the Soul Society?"

"At least five times as much as I had at lunch. Sometimes more if I've had an especially stressing day."

"It's amazing you aren't fat," Karin said in awe. She leaned closer to get a look at his face. "A kid like you- don't give me that look! -shouldn't have so many lines on his face." She traced a particularly deep one that was near his eyebrow.

"You would too if you had Matsumoto for a vice-captain," Toshiro muttered. "She _never_ does any work. Not unless I threaten to strip her of her rank."

She shrugged. "If you ask me, you're not going to die fighting against some Hollow. You're going to die from overworking yourself."

"And _you're_ going to die giving birth," he retorted. "Surely you've received enough hits to damage your internal organs."

She sent a swift kick in his direction. Once she heard the satisfactory cry of pain, she said, "I am not going to get married."

He winced as he put his left foot down. Shivers of pain crawled up his leg, causing him to lift it. "Why not?"

"For starters, I'm a tomboy. I'll probably be that way the rest of my life. No one wants to marry a tomboy."

"I know I'd find it a refreshing change of pace."

She decided that he wasn't talking about her and moved to a different subject. "How can I meet the spirit of my zanpakto?"

"I'm not quite sure. They summon you the first couple of times, but otherwise, if you just sit somewhere quiet with your zanpakto, you can talk with it. Mentally anyway. I tried it here and I was rudely interrupted."

"By what?"

"Another one of the shinigami that had come here with me. He was insisting that his zanpakto was being lazy and wasn't talking to him, so he was whacking it against a rock, trying to wake him up."

"Doesn't that hurt the spirit?" Karin asked, bewildered.

"No, but it makes them wake up all right." They had reached the front gate by now and Karin pushed it open.

"Hey, what were you talking to your zanpakto about anyway?" she asked as they walked towards the front door.

"Nothing important, mostly about the Hollows we were fighting." _Other stuff but I don't want you knowing what that was._

"Is that all you _ever_ think about? Haven't you ever thought about a crush or something?" she asked, somewhat amused.

He would have answered. Honestly. Really, he would have. But just then, Isshin bounced out the door and shouted something about his daughter, who immediately kicked him back into the house. She smiled at him in an apologetic way, then entered the house.

"Yuzu! We're home!" she called.

"Oh, that's great! Where were you?" Yuzu called from the kitchen. The two of them made their way in and sat at the table.

"We were playing soccer," Karin answered. "We're sorry about coming so late, we lost track of time."

"How did you get those cuts on your arms?" Yuzu asked suddenly, looking at her sister's injuries.

"Oh, these? Nothing to worry about Yuzu. I only fell on some sharp stuff in the lot."

Yuzu sighed. "You know where the first aid kit is." She went back to her cooking.

Toshiro sat in silence as he watched Karin attend to her wounds. Isshin had gone to the clinic announcing that he'd be back in time for supper, which would be in twenty minutes. "If you need me, I'll be in Ichigo's room." He headed upstairs without listening to their replies.

He entered the room with a heaving sigh. This job wasn't going to be easy at all. Yes, Karin proved to have much potential, but she still had a life to run and he wasn't in the best shape to train her. Though wooden swords made good substitutes, he needed to test her with shikai and bankai levels. The Arrancar weren't going to go easy on her just because she had only practiced with a wooden sword.

School made everything worse. Those girls were cruel to Karin simply because he preferred her above them. He knew her, that's all; he could have hung out with Yuzu if he wanted to. Plus, he couldn't get out of class so easily. After all, he was stuck in his gigai while his spiritual pressure returned.

Toshiro had made sure there wasn't any weird object in his gigai or that his gigai was deformed in any way, so he knew he'd be getting his spiritual powers back long before six months were up. But he didn't want to be here for that long. He knew that things could happen, that he could get attached to this place. It could end up like drinking alcohol or taking drugs- once you got a taste, you needed more to keep living.

He had a taste of Karakura Town, and he liked it. It was livable. But he didn't want it to become more than that. His eyes burned- were they tears? -with the knowledge that he could very well never want to return to the Soul Society. And he knew why.

A pair of blazing purple-black eyes swam into his mind's eye. Joining the pair was a mouth curved into a smile. Yes, Toshiro Hitsugaya, captain of the Tenth Squad, knew that Karin was a reason, probably the main reason that he might never want to go back to the Soul Society. It was stupid, like trying to hold flames in your hands, but it was true.

Toshiro wasn't in love with her. He was interested by her, he was a friend of hers, and he was a teacher to her. She was his subordinate, friend, and student. They were entirely different; he was ice, she was fire. Fire and ice do not mix.

Deciding to think or do less trivial things, he picked up the backpack he had borrowed from Ichigo (an old one anyway) and pulled out his homework. He had done most of it in class, but the math was getting to him. It had been ages since he had been required to do math in such a specific way. In the Soul Society math was needed, but hardly ever in this precise method. Seeing as that was the homework, well, he hadn't been able to finish in class.

Five minutes into doing his homework, he got bored. Once more he reached into his backpack and yanked out his prize from earlier. His teacher had pulled out an interesting arrangement of items. There was a phoenix figurine that Karin had picked up squealing something about Harry Potter and Fawkes, whatever those were. He himself had chosen this _Blue-Eyes White Dragon_ plushie. The toy reminded him of Hyorinmaru in the sense that it was an icy-blue color. It was only one more example of how he and Karin were different.

"Hitsugaya-kun! It's dinner time!" Yuzu called up the stairs, jarring his thoughts. He stood up and bounded away from the desk, throwing the door open. Mealtimes were always lonely for him, since he usually ate while doing paperwork. Thus, he was a pro at keeping his papers clean.

Isshin had reappeared and was jabbering away about the new patient that had come in the twenty minutes he had been gone. His daughters listened with rapt attention as he told about the unusual burn marks and deep gashes that had criss-crossed the patient's body. At this, Toshiro began listening as well, and began asking questions.

"What did the burns look like? How exactly were the gashes placed upon the body?" It was all Isshin could do to keep up with him. At last, Toshiro was satisfied. He leaned over and whispered in Karin's ear, "This is the work of a Hollow. After dinner we go to investigate."

"I understand Captain," she whispered back.

* * *

Bahahaha... OOCness! XD

By the way, I took the Blue-Eyes plushie idea from the story _Vulnerable Europa_. It is a very well-written HitsuKarin fanfiction. Please, read it!

I'm sure you're ALL wondering what, exactly, the poll standings are for Karin's zanpakto's name. Well, here they are:

Honaga (fire dragon)- 6

Kakiwa (fire ring)- 2 (yes, I misspelled this)

Homai (fire dance)- 1

Honeko (fire cat)- 1

Voting is STILL OPEN. Please, vote if you haven't already! :D I'm thinking in chapter eight (whenever I finish chapter seven... ish already at nearly 3000 words without sign of stopping soon) I'll introduce Karin to her zanpakto. You have a while yet to vote!!


	6. Use Some Sense

Hey thar everyone! Didja miss me? I know y'all did. :D

The thing is, I had to finish reading a really boring book for school called _The Count of Monte Cristo_. It got a bit interesting towards the end, but now I have to annotate it and be done with the stupid thing by the 19th, when my school begins. I'm sorry, I might not update Saturday, depending upon my annotating status. But I DO promise that chapter seven is the longest chapter so far! This chapter also happens to be my favorite!

DISCLAIMER OF DOOM GOES HERE. I sincerely apologize if my build-up towards high tension is off. I'm not quite sure I've ever thought about making high tension, seeing as I had no idea what it was in the first place- I guess the kind of romance I have written before is just natural? I haven't the slightest idea if I even DID high tension. XD

* * *

"I think your soul pager or whatever it is, is broken," Karin muttered irritably. "We can't find the stupid Hollow."

"You're the one that has more spiritual pressure than me, you ought to be the one who can find the thing," Toshiro argued. He was still secretly pleased that she had called him captain instead of his name for once.

"Well, the problem is I can't find it!" she nearly growled. "It's being elusive."

"Calm down," he ordered. "When this happens we have to be more alert because a Hollow could appear at any moment."

"'Calm down' he says. I'd like to see _him_ calm down," she muttered angrily to herself, still looking for the Hollow. They had set out after dinner, Toshiro taking the excuse of going out on a walk. She had popped another soul candy into her mouth and had followed him. He said that the place where the patient had been attacked would be the place to start, and so that's the place they had gone to first.

But when they got there, they couldn't lead away from it. With Toshiro's senses dulled, it was harder to locate the thing, even though she was there. Her sensing abilities were exceptional for her age (he had said so), but the Hollow's spiritual pressure was like a candle- flickering in and out. "I have a suggestion; let's just go someplace and wait for it to come to us," she told him.

"I think that's our only choice at the moment," he answered after looking at his soul pager for the seven thousandth time. He snapped it shut and gestured her to lead. "Take us someplace."

"I enjoy being able to pick where I want to go." She threw a smile at him and together they dashed off. Karin decided that the soccer field would be the best place to go. After all, she and her family had spent many years there, so the built up spiritual pressure would probably attract a lot of Hollows.

Toshiro was beginning to recognize the way to the soccer field. _I wonder if that's a good thing or a bad thing,_ he thought. On one hand, it was good because it meant he was beginning to understand the layout of the town. But on the other, it meant that he was getting too used to being in the human realm. He shivered at the thought of the consequences.

"Toshiro? Are you all right?" Karin asked, concerned. All of a sudden he had shivered, and it wasn't even cold tonight. She thought that he was getting a fever or maybe something worse.

"I'm fine. Just thinking about something," he assured her. She brought the most unusual things out of him. He had decided to help her soccer team because her leg had been hurt, he was telling her his thoughts merely because she asked, he felt oddly pleased when she called him Toshiro and never corrected her, and he got strange urges to protect her from others' snide comments that he caused. What in the world had she done to him?

"Are you cold?" she asked, jarring his thoughts. "I mean, um, you've shivered several times and I know you said that you were only thinking but I don't know it could be because you're cold and I'm plenty warm so you can take my black shirt if you need it since I have two layers of clothing and you don't have long sleeves on-"

"Karin! Karin, calm down, honestly!" She shut up and looked away. It'd be a few minutes more before they reached the soccer field, so he took his time to explain. "When I think thoughts that unseat me so to speak, or repulsive thoughts, or ones that make me frustrated, I shiver. Most of the time, I hide the shivers well. And I'm not cold. I'm ice, remember? My body temperature is naturally lower than everyone else's by a few degrees. I can withstand cooler conditions. Thank you for your offer of your shirt, but I don't need it." _That was really embarrassing. Her _shirt _of all things!_

His explanation laid her frantic worries to rest. It was logical and therefore he wouldn't need any medical attention (she considered needing to be warmed up a type of medical attention). Though, she was embarrassed about her offering him her shirt. But she could be mature about it, couldn't she? Karin wouldn't have offered it if she hadn't been mature enough. Yeah, that's right.

They arrived at the soccer field and sat down once they got there. "I hate waiting," Karin complained. "It makes me think that the Hollow is going to be worse than it already is."

"Battles tend to do that. You wonder if the plan will go correctly, if your soldiers can withstand the opposing forces, and what sort of casualties you'll suffer."

"Tell me a story."

"A what?" he asked, confused.

"Stories make the waiting go faster. So, tell me a story."

"What do you want to hear?" he asked. She _thought_ in unusual ways too.

"Tell me about Hyorinmaru."

Of all the things she had to ask about… at least it wasn't Momo. "As I've said, he's my zanpakto. He is the most powerful ice zanpakto in the entire Soul Society." Toshiro paused, waiting for her to ask something.

She didn't fail him. "And? What's the most powerful fire zanpakto?" Trust her to ask that.

"Captain-Commander Yamamoto's zanpakto, Ryuujin Jakka."

"Sounds important."

"If you think that sort of stuff is. Anyway, he is a dragon. He's also extremely old, around two millennia."

She whistled. "That's old. Does a zanpakto have more than one shinigami?"

"Occasionally there will be a zanpakto that is just newborn, like Zangetsu, but most of the time it passes through several shinigami."

"And Zangetsu belongs to whom?"

"He is your brother's zanpakto."

"_That_ giant butcher knife? Wow."

"His zanpakto is in permanent shikai form. It happens sometimes. Anyway, I thought you wanted to hear about Hyorinmaru?"

"Oh, right. Well, go on." He found it kinda weird that she could so easily jump from one subject to the next.

"His personality is a little hard to describe. He is part of my soul, so he should be something like me."

"As in, he's smart, pops up on people, is bossy, actually helpful sometimes, and has trouble with girls?"

Toshiro blinked, taking it all in. Then he grew red with fury. "That isn't funny! I do _not_ have problems with girls!"

"Oh wait, I forgot one. Does he have height issues too?"

"NO!!" he shouted at her.

She began to laugh hysterically. "Your face!" she managed between laughs. "It's hysterical!" Then she laughed some more, much to his annoyance.

"Stop! Stop it right now Karin!" he ordered. Slowly it subsided to mere giggles, but was threatening to turn into full-blown laughter.

"So, ahem, did that kill any time?" she asked, finally calm enough to carry on a conversation without erupting into giggles.

"I think so. It should be coming here soon." He looked around, expecting it to pop up out of nowhere.

"Hey, I've been meaning to ask this. Do you have any spiritual pressure left?"

"A little. About the same amount as Yuzu probably."

"So does that mean you can fight at all?"

"Of course I can! I can kick and punch just the same as you. And I can manage weak attacks we learned at the academy."

"I'm _so_ lucky to have you," she said sarcastically.

"I know you are," he said in the same manner.

Before they could continue their sarcasm battle a piercing howl sounded from nearby. Both turned to see a relatively small Hollow running towards them. Karin jumped up and yanked out her sword. "There the stupid thing is," she muttered to Toshiro.

"All right, don't get cocky," he warned. "Steady your blade. Wait for it to get closer." Karin fell into the position he had taught her that afternoon. "Now jump!" he commanded.

She did as told and jumped into the air, preparing to slice the thing in half. Instead, it disappeared. Karin fell to the ground, surprised. "Where'd it go?" she asked.

"Karin! Get up!" Toshiro called, panicked. She jumped away just in time as the Hollow reappeared, swiping giant claws right where her head had been.

"Now Karin!" Toshiro shouted. "Before it disappears again!" Karin swung her zanpakto once more, only to have the stupid monster disappear.

This time, it reappeared behind Toshiro, knocking him out before he could run. Karin gasped. Her mentor had been knocked out, and he didn't have a chance to fight back at all! "That does it!" she screamed, running at an incredible speed towards the Hollow. "No one, and I mean _no one_, hurts my friends! Especially Toshiro!!" Fueled by her rage, she sliced the Hollow before it could attack again.

She landed on the ground, pleased that the stupid thing was finally dead. "Toshiro!" she called, racing over to him. "Hey, wake up," she said, shaking his body. Sighing after realizing he wasn't going to wake up anytime soon, she hefted him up and draped his arm over her shoulder. "I guess it's time to go home," she said to no one in particular.

Today hadn't been the first, or the second, or even the third time that she had fought a Hollow. But it was the first time that anyone had gotten hurt. It was also the first time it had taken so long to kill the stupid thing. Oh well, it was bound to happen sometime.

Deciding it would be a very bad idea for Toshiro to show up floating into the house, Karin walked along the road. She knew where she was going; she'd been there many times over the past few years.

This place was what she liked to call "Toshiro's spot" because she had first talked to him here. Placing him against the railing, she looked up at the sky, remembering. He had been tapping something on his cell phone (which she now realized was his soul pager) and she had thanked him for saving her ball. At first she had thought him rather full of himself, but she began to see his good points. To start with, his amazing skill with soccer had immediately drawn her attention.

Afterwards she had seen a rare point of his soft side. Karin had gone to find him after he hadn't shown up for practice. She had found him sitting where they were now, tapping on his soul pager again. During the conversation that followed, he had said something about memories. Right now she burned with the curiosity of those memories, but if he didn't want to tell her, she'd wait for a different opportunity.

"When are you going to wake up?" she asked, looking over at him. He was still out cold. _Hee hee. Out _cold_. Ha ha, the pun. He's out cold._ A smile spread across her face, a happy smile. First came snorts, then giggles, and lastly full-blown laughter. Toshiro shifted, and she stopped abruptly. She remembered only too well his reaction the last time she had been laughing at him.

"Karin!" he cried, snapping up. "Where am I?" he asked, confused.

She hid a smile. "Hey, Toshiro, are you all right? I mean, you were out cold for a while."

He looked at her, relieved. "I'm fine, but what about you? Did you defeat the Hollow?"

"Of course I did stupid. I wouldn't be here right now if I hadn't. I'd still be trying to kill the thing."

He twitched at being called stupid. "I was concerned about you and you call me stupid?! I'm not sure I appreciate that!"

"Oh come on Toshiro-_kuuuun_," she drawled. "Use some common sense. Why else would we be here, against this railing, instead of the soccer field? Plus, I don't have any wounds you haven't already seen."

"Fine then. Next time I won't care about what happens to you."

"Awww, and here I was, hoping that you'd be there when I fight Hollows."

"Who said I wouldn't help you fight them?" he demanded.

She laughed. "No one." Laughing still, she stood up. "C'mon Toshiro. Let's go home."

Watching her bound away, Toshiro stood up. _Why does she keep laughing at me?_ he thought dejectedly. Then he pulled a face of confusion. _How come I'm so hurt about it? It shouldn't matter. She's only a human and has no proper respect for a captain._ A deep rustling within his soul made him feel like rejecting that theory.

"Toshiroooooooo!" I'm gonna leave you if you don't hurry up!" Karin's distant voice called.

Startled, he raced after her voice, shouting, "Don't you dare leave me Kurosaki!" He heard her laugh again. "She's gonna get it now," he growled, speedily catching up to her. She saw him catching up and started to break out into a full run.

"Just try beating me Hitsugaya!" she challenged.

"You forget I'm a captain!" he cried, boosting his speed.

Karin's face set into a fiery determination. "_You_ forget I live in this town and know my way around here!" Her strides lengthened as she sprinted towards home.

He knew she was right, but it didn't mean that he was going to just let her win. They raced through the streets neck to neck, gaining and losing the lead. At last, they saw the Kurosaki clinic. Glancing at each other, they put all of their speed into their legs to try to make it first.

Karin touched the door first. "I win!" she said excitedly. However, their momentum kept them going, and they crashed through the door. They tumbled, her on top of him. She jumped up after a minute and raced away to her room where her body was. Fortunately for them, the other couldn't see their blushes.

"Ow…" Toshiro muttered, slowly getting up. At least it didn't hurt as bad as yesterday.

"Oh, Hitsugaya-kun! You're home." Yuzu stood in the doorway, worriedly looking at him. "Are you all right? What happened?"

"I decided to run home and didn't open the door in time," he answered, heading upstairs.

She looked up the stairs, surprised. "Sometimes, I swear there's something up with Hitsugaya-kun," she muttered, heading back into the kitchen.

Upstairs, Karin had looked over her homework that her body had done without her. "Wow, those souls in soul candy are really good at this!" she exclaimed, surprised. "Guess I'd better go talk with Toshiro." She stood up and left the room, leaving it open.

He had finished the math homework and continued to be bored. School was tedious, but perhaps it'd be less than it would be if Karin wasn't in his class. Seeing as he had nothing else to do, he absentmindedly toyed with his new object. As Toshiro was beginning to think it'd be a good idea to take a bath, he heard a knock on the door. "Come in," he said.

Expectedly, it was Karin. "Hey Toshiro," she said in greeting.

"Hello. Is there something you need?"

"Nope, I just wanna talk." She laid down on the bed. "Do you like it here?" she asked.

"No. School is tedious, your father disturbs me, those girls love me but hate you, and I'm stuck in this gigai."

Karin cringed at his words. "Isn't there anything good about this place? It can't be all bad."

"You're here," he said simply. "You make everything interesting."

Karin looked at him, startled. "Oh, well, thanks, I guess." She looked away.

"Karin? Why did you so willingly become a shinigami?" Toshiro asked.

She sighed a little. "I think it's because I really want to prove myself. Once, about four years ago, on the anniversary of my mother's death, my sister and I were rendered helpless. We were visiting mom's grave and then some invisible monster attacked us. All I could see then was an outline, a foggy shape. My sister and I were getting smooshed and then my brother saved us.

"I don't want it to happen again, the thought of almost dying… Yuzu almost got eaten by the thing." She shuddered at the memory. "Then Ichi-nii went away one time to train. He tried to pretend that he didn't know what I was talking about, but he knew that I knew. Right then I knew that I was tired of being in the dark and being protected by someone else, tired of having to wait to be rescued.

"Now that I'm a shinigami, Ichi-nii doesn't have to worry about us anymore. I can protect us, and that's good enough." She grinned proudly at the thought of finally being able to defend herself. "Plus, I can also protect other people for once!" Karin leaned over and stuck her face centimeters away from his. "People like you."

_Now would _NOT_ be a good time for her father to come in,_ was Toshiro's first thought. His second thought was _She is waaaaaay too close. What does she want to do, kiss me? No, nope, I didn't just think that._ "Um, Karin? Do you mind getting out of my face?"

She openly frowned but pulled away. "You're too much of a gentleman," she said, crossing her arms.

He looked surprised. "Well, what do you want me to do?"

Karin grinned a very, very, very weird grin. "Many things. Good night Toshiro. Sleep well." She got off the bed and walked over to the door.

"Wait," he asked, grabbing her arm. She turned, surprised. "Good night," he said softly. Karin smiled and reached for the doorknob.

It was then that he kissed her.

* * *

And that is why it is my favorite chapter. :D I heart the ending. XD

So far, chapter seven isn't completed, but I think that I'll introduce Karin to her zanpakto in chapter eight. That means, once chapter seven is posted, you can't vote anymore! Here are the listings:

Honaga (fire dragon)- 7

Honeko (fire cat)- 1

Kakiwa (fire ring)- 2

Homai- 3

:D I can't decide which on my own, I think I'm a bit indecisive when it comes to names. I also happen to know that it's zanpaku-to, but I don't... really... care. It just seems a bit pointless to me to change that now.


	7. I Guess I'm Flattered

Yaaaaay! I can update! Well, I'm not done with my book, not even a third done, but I've been taking small breaks. So I'm here to update this and then go back. THIS CHAPTER IS THE LONGEST I HAVE EVA WRITTEN. IT IS **4,138 **WORDS LONG. PHEAR MY AWESOMENESS.

* * *

Karin felt very much like asking if it had been a dream. Last night, impossibly, Toshiro had kissed her. Also impossibly, she had defeated a Hollow that had knocked _him_ out. Hugging her pillow to her chest, she blushed. A kiss! Even if it was only on the cheek, it still was a kiss. She was a big pile of jelly right now.

"Karin-chan! We're going to be late for school!" Yuzu called from downstairs.

"AHH! School!" Karin screeched, hopping out of bed and yanking on her uniform. "I'm so late!" she cried, running downstairs. She grabbed her lunch and dashed out the door without eating anything.

Finally heaving into her chair, she checked the clock. Blinking, she did the math. "What! No way! I got here in seven minutes? How fast did I run?" Doing the math once more, she shocked herself. "I'll bet it has to do with running late or something. Maybe having this much spiritual pressure affected it."

"Good morning Karin!" her soccer friends chimed. "You look extra chipper this morning," banana-top said.

"Ah, well, it's nothing," she said breezily. "Good morning to you guys too. Did you guys have problems on the math homework last night?"

Her Ronald McDonald-look-a-like friend sighed. "Yeah. It was so hard! I must've spent two hours on it!"

Karin grinned evilly. "I had no problem on the homework at all." _Aaaaaaaand that'd because I didn't even _do_ the homework. But for some reason I feel as if I actually did. If that's what a soul candy is designed to do, that's awesome!_

"Karin!" they moaned. "You're so lucky! How'd you get to be so smart?"

"I'm not that smart and you know it. I have an average intelligence. Last night's homework might have been easy because I understood it for once." She smirked at them.

"I'll bet she had Hitsugaya help her," one of them muttered.

"Did not!" she insisted hotly.

"There! You admitted it! Hitsugaya _did_ help you!"

"No, he didn't! Toshiro isn't interested in helping people with _homework_ troubles!"

"You know Karin, it's fascinating watching you argue with people," Toshiro whispered in her ear.

"Stop popping up on me!" she cried, whirling around.

He snorted. "What, and you're allowed to sneak up on people?"

She frowned but didn't answer. Instead she turned away and refused to look back at him.

He sighed and headed over for his seat, staring at her over his shoulder all the while. _I've committed a crime,_ he thought. _It is against the law for a shinigami and a human to love one another. Karin, what have you _done_ to me? _Toshiro felt very much like screaming (again). What, exactly, was so wrong about love between a human and a shinigami? Right now the laws weren't coming in handy.

Wait, hold it. Who said that he loved her anyway? Whatever this was was probably just some physical attraction. She was just some silly human. A silly, hilarious, unusual, weird, interesting, beautiful, stupid human. _What am I denying? I feel like I'm denying something. But what _can_ I be denying? There's nothing to deny._

"All right class, we're supposed to be performing a play in a few months for New Year's." His teacher's voice jarred his thoughts. Shouts of different plays rose up around him.

_A play? When was the last time I went to a play?_ he thought. _Must've been when I still live with obaa-san. When Momo wasn't so hurt. No! I can't think about her, it's too painful._

Toshiro stared ahead of him, not quite paying attention to what was going on. Apparently a play choice had been made, with squeals and moans to go along with it. His teacher had then announced she'd be picking the parts and _no _bribery would be accepted.

"All right guys, I'll post the results tomorrow. You guys can chat until lunchtime, which is in fifteen minutes." She turned away and began to scribble something on her clipboard.

"Ne, Hitsugaya-kun, who do you want to be Elizabeth?" Hana asked him, turning from her seat in front of him.

"I'm not inclined to tell you. I'd much rather keep my thoughts to myself." He stood up, preparing to go to the other side of the room.

"Oh, fine, go ahead. Talk with _Karin_," Hana grumbled. "It's as if you know her. You never talk to anyone else, and it was like she knew your habits yesterday. Plus, you call her by her first name and she does the same to you."

He sat right back down. "I don't know her at all," he insisted. But he didn't have anything else to say. What could he say to defend why he talked to Karin only?

"Then get to know me," Hana said, smiling. The smile reminded Toshiro of the one Karin had given him the night before.

"Well, then who do _you_ want for Elizabeth's part?" Toshiro asked quickly. He didn't want to know her, but knowing her votes would help him get an idea about her.

"I_ really_ want that part. The part needs someone who can sing and dance."

"I think all of us will be learning to dance, so being able to dance isn't going to matter much. And who says that we'll need singing?" It was stupid of him not to know what play they were doing because now his responses would be all messed up.

"Well, there is a lot of singing involved in the book, or so I've heard. Have you ever read _Pride and Prejudice_ by Jane Austen?"

"Oh! That I _have_ read. In the original format too." That was one of the few English literature books they had in the Soul Society library. It was an original copy, still in good condition.

"English and all? Wow Hitsugaya-kun!"

"I guess."

"I don't understand why Karin has to be so great at English. It's supposed to be one of the hardest languages in the world! She only ever seems to talk about soccer and she's average in every other class."

"I'm not that surprised. Everyone has at least _one _subject they are better at." Hana was insanely jealous and thought that saying bad things about Karin to him would make him think more of herself and less of Karin. Well, it's not like he cared. Instead of saying anything else to her, he pulled out a book that (coincidentally) Karin had given him and began to read.

_Did I do something wrong? Is he afraid I'd get mad at him for last night?_ Over on the other side of the room, Karin was completely confused. Toshiro had stood up, but then he had sat back down at what Hana had said to him. The two of them had talked for a bit, and then he had pulled out a book. _Why am I expecting him to come to me? I don't need to wait for him in order to talk to him._ She stood up and walked over to Toshiro and plopped down in her sister's vacated chair. "Hi Toshiro. Is that book interesting?"

"Hmmm… it is intriguing." He looked at the front cover. "All we have of literature where I come from is really old stuff."

"Then we'll need to go book shopping so then you can stock up your libraries with more modern fiction." She thought a minute. "How about today?" _C'mon, I did such a good job last night; give me a break, please? Just for today. I swear. Besides, you need a bit of a break too. All that stress can get to one's head._

"I suppose. However, no skipping out on training tomorrow as you still have a long way to go."

Karin laughed. "I know, I know, I was just thinking you needed a break. Besides, you don't want your library to have only old stuff, do you?"

He smiled weakly. "I heard you Karin." Toshiro looked at the book he was reading. "Whatever Harry thinks, I doubt it's Snape behind all of this."

"I'm not telling you yes or no," Karin answered, looking at his book. "If I do, it'll spoil everything."

"I certainly hope that if you went to a boarding school _you_ wouldn't go around the school at night." He looked down at it disapprovingly. "_Especially_ on a sort of dare, or whatever it is Malfoy and Harry set up."

"Oh, well, if I was _dared_ to do it, of course I would. You know me Toshiro; my pride always gets in my way."

"Actually, I didn't know that about you. I've already told you; there are many things I don't know about you."

"I guess we'll just have to change that," she said in an oddly cheerful way. Noticing that Hana was giving her the evil eye, she turned to her. "Soccer practice is at six tomorrow for forty-five minutes, don't forget."

"Like I would, it's hard not to with you as captain." Hana gave a twisted smile, like she didn't know what else to do with her face. "Karin, who do you want for the lead parts?"

"Lessee, I think that Yuzu should be Jane, and Toshiro should be Mr. Bingley, and I think I could be Mary, and you could be Miss Bingley, and I think Ami could be Mrs. Hurst, and, oh, I don't know about Elizabeth."

"Why on earth did you place Toshiro as Mr. Bingley?" Hana asked, incredulous.

"Ah, well, Toshiro's personality would have difficulty playing the part. I just didn't want him to be Mr. Darcy because that would go to his head."

Toshiro hid his smile by his book. Okay, maybe her last jab bothered him a little, but it was her way of thinking.

"What! Karin! You're so mean!"

"Yeah yeah, whatever you say Hana." Karin turned to Toshiro. "Hey, which part do you want anyway?"

"I have no idea."

"Surely you must have _some_ idea," she said, pushing it a little.

"Well, actually, I think I'd play Darcy rather well." He put on a somber face. "'She's… tolerable I suppose. But she's not handsome enough to tempt me!'"

She laughed at his Darcy imitation. "You're right, you probably would!"

"Honestly, I'm curious about which part you'll end up with."

She put a hand on his. "Don't worry about me. Let's just focus on the mission."

"_What_ are you two talking about?" Hana demanded.

Before either of them could answer, the lunch bell pealed through the school. "All right! It's lunch time!" Karin jumped up, snatched her bag, and dashed out of the room.

"Karin!" Toshiro called to her retreating back. She was already gone. "Argh, stupid human," he muttered, putting his book away and picking up his bag.

"Karin's usually a big eater," Hana muttered to him. "I was surprised yesterday when she gave you almost all her food." She looked up at him. "Why do you like her so much? There are much prettier and smarter girls in this class."

"Hana, I'll say this once and once only." The temperature in the room dropped a few degrees. "That's. None. Of. Your. Business." With that, he ran after Karin.

"Karin!" he panted once he had caught up with her. "Let's… eat somewhere else today," he suggested.

"Why? Are the fangirls that bad?"

"No…"

"Oh, I get. You're used to being alone. All right, no problem. Not many people eat up on the roof. We can eat in privacy up there." She took his hand and guided him up the stairs towards the roof.

Somehow, they had evaded all of his fangirls as they made it to the top of the building. They sat side-by-side against the wall, quietly eating their lunches. The silence was almost pleasant, as both weren't entirely talkative people. Together they brought about an unusual talkativeness.

"Hey, Toshiro?" Karin asked, but it wasn't an inquisitive sounding sort of question. This one sounded like she was stepping into restrictive territory.

"Yeah?" He wouldn't look at her.

"I didn't really mean it last night, I was just playing."

_You WHAT?!_ he thought. _What do you mean by that?_ "I don't understand."

"I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable, that's all. To be honest, I felt like I was watching another person say and do things in my body."

"Karin, it happens to everybody. I'm not offended." _But, really, it hurts to hear that. I don't understand what you mean! What am I to you?_

"Oh, good." She relaxed and ate her lunch in a much more cheerful way. _It's better for us. You forget about me, love someone else. I know perfectly well that a shinigami and a human cannot love. It makes sense to be kept apart. Where would we live? How would the children grow? Would they even _like_ having a father that never ages while I do? No, no, it's much better for you to forget about me because I am a human._ "So, what kinds of books do you think your colleagues would like?"

"That's hard and not at the same time." He frowned in thought.

"While you think, don't frown." The frown deepened. "I'm serious To-Captain Hitsugaya! It makes you look much older than you are!"

His smiled, but he had not missed the abrupt name change. "But, sweet Karin, I'm eighty. The more frown lines I have, the more obvious my age."

"Don't be silly," she teased back. "You still look less than twenty! Besides, smile lines are better than frown lines."

"Well, anyway, I'm sure Captain Zaraki would look for books about wars, as bloodlust and his name are synonyms."

She laughed a short burst of laughter. "Oh, really? Wow. Go on."

"I'm quite sure Captain Ukitake would like books about sweets and how to make sweets. He loves sweets and tries to give them to me."

"How can you _not_ like sweets? I don't get to eat sweets that often." She pouted slightly, the taste of sugared peach at the back of her throat. Karin only got to eat sugared peaches on special occasions.

"I'm not too fond of it, and there are others who share my opinion." Without waiting for her, he continued. "Captain Unohana would probably want books on the healing arts, and no doubt there are hundreds of those. Plus, there is the basic literature."

"Yeah, I'll bet the rest of the Soul Society has never even _heard_ of Harry Potter!" Karin exclaimed.

"You like that book a lot, don't you?"

"It isn't just _one _book you know. It's a whole series of seven!" She smiled shyly, unusual for her. "I'm sort of embarrassed to admit it, but when I first read those books I really liked Harry."

A shot of ice-cold jealousy passed through Toshiro. "He is a likable character," he admitted.

"I stopped liking him a while ago, but I still love the books. They're just about the only books I'll read."

"Hence the pristine condition I found them in."

"Yup." She finished off the last of her rice ball and put her lunchbox aside. "I stopped liking him because I met someone better." Toshiro stiffened at this. "He's really nice to me, he's smart, he's a good leader, he cares about his friends, and I just adore his eyes."

Toshiro didn't know what to say to this. Did he know this guy? Why would this guy try to take Karin away from him? Who _was_ this guy?! "Do I know him?" he asked carefully. Maybe he could get enough information out of her so he could track the guy down and give him a piece of his mind.

"Oh, yes, intimately."

"Describe him for me."

"His hair is kinda spiky for starters. Think you can figure it out?"

He thought. That nearly eliminated all her friends, except for the one with black hair. But all of her friends followed her lead even if they didn't always want to. So that cut him off. Toshiro didn't even _want_ to consider her family members. There was Renji, but what would be so special about his eyes? Not many people thought his eyes were special.

Who did he know (_intimately _mind you) that had spiky hair and gorgeous eyes like she said, as well as the traits she had mentioned? He could think of _nobody_. "I can't think of anyone. No one I know fits the list."

"Not even yourself?" she teased.

It felt like something had clicked. _Himself!_ "I hadn't considered the possibility…"

"No, of course not." She leaned towards him and gave kissed him on the cheek. "You're just humble about yourself." Placing his head in her hands, she forced him to look at her in the eye. "I know that this isn't right, that what we need to be doing isn't kissing and flirting with each other. There's a war going on; I know. But relax, just for today. Pretend, just for today, that you're a normal human boy, and I'm a normal human girl. Please. Indulge yourself, if just a little." Once more she kissed him. "Okay?"

"I believe so…" Mimicking her, he placed his hands on her cheeks. "Even if it is against everything I've ever known…"

They leaned in to kiss each other, but were rudely interrupted. A beeping came from Toshiro's pocket. Both of them sighed irritably and he pulled the soul pager from his pocket.

"Orders. Two Hollows down by the elementary school." He stood up and handed her another soul candy. She took it and popped it into her mouth.

"Is fighting two Hollows any different than fighting one?" she asked.

"Yes, they could be fighting together. In that case, you need to make sure that you're not caught from behind. Plus it takes longer to defeat them."

"Well, all right then, I figured that'd be what it was." She took his hand and together they raced towards the elementary school. Surprised that he seemed to know his way, she asked, "Have you been nearby the elementary school before?"

He raised his eyebrows a bit before answering. "I did, once. To see you."

"You were _stalking_ me? I guess I'm flattered."

"I wasn't stalking! I was interested in you."

"So now I have an admirer. I really _am_ flattered now."

"No! That wasn't it either! I was interested in your ability to sense Hollows."

"How very boring," she huffed.

"Boring used to be my life you know." _Before I met you._

"Yeah yeah, whatever. Let's just get this over with. I really do want to go to the book store today, and I really don't want to miss class."

"You're a studious student."

"What's wrong with wanting to stay in school?" she demanded.

The flames of her anger leaped around him, making him uncomfortable with the heat. "Nothing, but with your personality, one wouldn't have guessed."

"Gee, thanks," she muttered sarcastically.

They arrived at the elementary school fairly quickly as it was not too far away. "Is anyone going to wonder why you're here Captain Hitsugaya?" Karin asked.

"No, and why are you calling me Captain?"

"You demand it of everyone else."

"But I do not demand it of you. In fact," his face turned slightly pink, "you're the only one I _want_ to call me Toshiro."

"Not even Momo?"

"Not even Momo."

"I _am_ flattered!" She flashed him a warm smile. "Time to get to work," she said cheerfully. Karin pulled her zanpakto and gripped it with both hands. Closing her eyes, she began to search out the Hollows.

Searching for a Hollow felt like spreading out little tentacles. Slowly, you stretch out your senses, and the little feelers at the end stretch farthest. It was also like feeling in the dark, when you carefully feel around with your arms so you don't run into something and take baby steps so you don't step on anything.

Karin blinked. "Found 'em. They're in the playground, causing havoc."

"When do they not?" Toshiro asked rhetorically.

She shrugged, and together they leaped down to the ground, running for the playground. As they neared the site, cries and howls could be heard. They sprinted faster, knowing that lives were at stake.

"Karin, be careful now!" Toshiro said loudly. "I'm going to go try to help the children; you're on your own!" With that, he raced off, leaving her by herself.

"Okay, I can do this. I did it last night," she said, calming herself. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, letting it out and opening them. Her grip tightened, and she took off at a sprint. "Hey! Hollows, I'm over here!" she shouted, waving her arms.

The two of them looked a bit like bees. They saw her and howled like all Hollows, and started to fly for her. She wasn't prepared for their speed at all, having to throw herself out of the way.

"Oh, great, this is going to be harder than I thought it would be," she mumbled. Raising her zanpakto, she screamed and charged. Swiftly, she sliced- a leg got chopped clean off of one of them. "Arrghh, I was hoping that'd do more damage," she muttered. Just then one of them charged, and she had to dive to get out of the way again.

"This is ridiculous, I'm not trained enough!" she cried, attempting to scare them off with a one-handed swing. It didn't deter them; they charged at her and each drew a deep gash along her arm. She screamed in pain and grabbed her arm.

Toshiro had rounded up the kids and had convinced them that it was a good idea to eat lunch inside today. Once he had seen every last child into the school, he had heard Karin's scream. "Karin!" he shouted, running after her voice.

"Can't… move," Karin muttered. "Too… much… blood loss!" Well, she wasn't part of a family medical clinic for nothing. She tried to stem the flow of the blood, but it was useless. She'd die once she fell unconscious, those things would certainly eat her, seeing as they had now stabbed her legs.

Toshiro had arrived in time to see her faint from loss of blood. "Karin!" he shouted, screamed more like. In about five seconds he had reached her, tearing her clothes to wrap around her wounds. It didn't help much, but she'd be fine until they managed to get to a safe place for him to try to perform healing kido.

The Hollows wailed, not pleased that Toshiro had arrived before they could eat their prey. They charged at him, stingers ready. He dived, pulling Karin with him.

What could he do?! He was useless! Hyorinmaru was not in his possession, and all he could do was weak kido. "That should scare them off for a while!" Toshiro thought, standing up. Toshiro performed a weak version of Way of Binding 31, and it made them fly off. No doubt they'd be back in a while, but at least he had enough time now to make a battle plan.

Kido was way too weak. No way would he be able to defeat them. Calling for help was stupid; he'd have to explain why he didn't have his powers, which would take time. Desperate, he looked around him. Not a single weapon in sight! He couldn't use Karin's sword, it'd be too heavy for him.

_But it might be the only way to save her,_ a little voice in the back of his head told him. _Besides, you don't _know_ that it's too heavy for you. It could be almost as light as Hyorinmaru for all you know._

Sighing and wondering why he was listening to voices, he reached for the zanpakto. As soon as he touched it, it glowed red. He picked it up. The glow dulled. It wasn't as light as a feather, sure, but he could still use it. _Excellent._

The Hollows howled, eager for revenge, and Toshiro was ready for them. In two quick moves, he had defeated them. He slid the zanpakto back into its sheath; it was _never_ a good idea to perform a soul burial with another shinigami's zanpakto. Gently, he picked Karin up and headed for Urahara's shop.

"Don't worry, you'll be fine," he whispered to her. It took a few minutes to reach the Urahara shop, but if he had gone any faster she would have lost more blood. "Hey, Urahara!" he shouted when he arrived. "I need you right now!"

Mr. Urahara came out, grinning his weird grin. "Why, hello my young captain what may I-" he stopped once he saw Karin. His smile wavered, but stayed. "First mission against multiple Hollows?" he asked.

"First by herself. I have no knowledge of her past adventures with your shop helpers."

"I see. Tessai! You have a patient." The man he had called for came into view, wearing his sunglasses and apron as always. "Your patient is Karin; you remember her, correct? Good. She'll need to be healed as quickly as can be efficiently done." Tessai nodded, took Karin from Toshiro's hands, and moved to a different room.

Toshiro was reluctant to leave, but he had to go back to school. "I will return as soon as I can," he said, and left.

* * *

Hey guys! Did you like? I've been debating about whether or not other shinigami can use another's zanpakto. Like wizards' wands, y'know? So I went with only in special cases can things be done. Karin and her zanpakto will have a chat about it in chapter eight. Speaking of which, her zanpakto's name is... **Honaga**! Thanks everyone for voting. :)

I did think of making Urahara look sad, or upset, or troubled, but he's so weird that I didn't and instead made his smile waver a bit. I also hope that you guys don't mind that I made Karin lose use of both her legs and her sword arm. Don't worry; I'm sure Tessai will fix her in no time. :D

Hee. I've been wanting to make Toshiro perform in a play for eva. I'm not sure I'll be spending too much time on it, but I'd like you guys to guess about who in the story is going to get which part. By the way, if anyone knows, I'd LOVE to know Karin's friends' names.


	8. A Jungle Plain

HEYZ EVERYONE. :D I had my first week of high school! It was really busy! And hectic! And the seniors clog the hallways!

Anyways, DISCLAIMER GOES HERE.

* * *

It was hot, but not unbearably hot. That much was certain. The heat was like that of a jungle. Karin looked around her in bewilderment- she had certainly never seen such huge and fragrant red flowers in her life. Sure, there were large red flowers in the tropics, but these were so gargantuan, she was sure that each petal had to be at least the size of her head. She brushed past the giant red flowers, basking in their delicious scent and searching for a way out. There did have to be some meaning for this place, right?

Finally, she had pushed her way out to come across a clearing. This place looked like a nesting ground, or something. It was round, and the grass in the center looked flat and as if it had been that way for a long time. She looked around and saw that there were small orange flowers sprinkled in throughout the grass, like how sometimes petals were pressed between sheets to make them smell nice. A brook laughed merrily out of sight.

"You have finally come," a majestic voice said from across the clearing. Karin jumped slightly at the sudden voice. A huge shape flew from above and landed neatly in the clearing in front of her. "I am pleased Karin. Do you know who I am?"

"My zanpakto of course," Karin answered promptly. "Toshiro told me that you would call me the first few times and when I learned your name I could call you myself."

The great dragon smiled at her. "You are right, of course. I am your zanpakto. Try as I might, I cannot _make_ you learn my name, even if I try hundreds of times. It has been tried by many zanpakto for many centuries; I myself stopped trying two shinigami ago. My closest companion stopped three ago. We have discovered that being guides and advisors is what leads our shinigami into learning our names.

"If you are anything like dear little Toshiro, you will learn my name soon."

"Wait, how do you know Toshiro? Did he give you permission to call him that or something?" Karin had never met a zanpakto before, but she didn't think that they usually talked about other zanpakto's shinigami like that.

"My dearest friend in the world is Hyorinmaru. It is obvious, no?" She gestured to herself. "I'm a dragon, he's a dragon, it's really quite obvious we'd be friends." Great white teeth grinned at Karin.

Karin stared up at the dragon. "Hey, what I should call you until I learn your name?"

"You may call me 'dragon'. The shinigami before you tried calling me 'big monster' because apparently he had no idea what a dragon looked like." A puff of smoke flared from her nostrils. "I was displeased to say the least."

"Okay dragon, how old are you?"

"I am one thousand, seven hundred years old. Yes, I am not as old as Hyorinmaru, but that usually doesn't matter."

"Age doesn't matter about friendship?" Karin was thinking a little about her and Toshiro's friendship.

"It does sometimes make it more difficult to be friends with those significantly older or younger than you, but for the two of us, it's more like we're only three years apart. Now come and sit with me, I assure you that sitting next to me is better than standing."

Karin moved towards her, feeling the heat roll off the scales. It wasn't unpleasant heat, it felt like the kind of drowsy heat that made sleep easier. "Dragon, is Toshiro all right? Do you know?"

"He is fine, don't worry. I am not surprised that he managed to pick me up."

"He _what_?" Karin cried. "Toshiro picked up my zanpakto?"

"He did. Usually another zanpakto is so heavy that you cannot lift it. Really, it is a matter of trust."

"So usually you aren't trusting of other shinigami?"

"Usually, yes. I trust young Toshiro. Most of the time, however, it is wise to just not let anyone else use me. That's what all of the zanpakto think."

"You specifically, or just in general?"

"In general. We don't always trust those that you do."

"I see. Toshiro must be very special if you trust him."

"Enough about him, what about you? Are you sure you want to let him go? He'll be miserable for a very long time."

"What do you mean dragon?"

"I mean, you shouldn't let what could be your relationship go. Just because he's a shinigami means nothing. After all, look at your brother and Rukia. They're great friends, aren't they?"

"_Friends_ yeah. But their situation isn't the same as ours."

"True, true. But as far as I know, the law says that humans and shinigami can't even be friends. Then again, the last time I came in contact with the Soul Society was some time before you were born."

"Why?"

"I attached myself to you when you were born, and before that my shinigami had died. It was maybe, oh, I guess ten years before you were born."

"Why at my birth?"

"I saw much potential being your zanpakto," the great red dragon said vaguely.

Karin figured she wouldn't get much more out of her companion about it, so she didn't say anything else. The place had a certain beauty to it- its silence. Wind rustled through the trees and flowers. Water skipped and tripped merrily. There were no insects here, no animals either. Just her and the great dragon.

"Is it always this peaceful?" Karin asked, looking up at the dragon's face.

"No. When you are in physical pain, it looks like a drought. In the times that you are in emotional turmoil, the wind howls, the water floods, the flowers rot."

"But, I _am_ in physical pain!" Karin cried, shocked.

"I am keeping this place healthy for you, so you can know what it's like on a regular basis." A flick of her tail revealed the drought-like plain. The flowers were shriveled, the water was almost noiseless, the trees were bare, and the grass was brown and parched. Right before Karin's eyes, a slow rejuvenation was occurring.

"What's going on? Everything is starting to look better."

"Toshiro brought you to Urahara to be healed. No doubt Tessai is healing you."

"How do you know that?" Karin looked up at the dragon, surprised.

"I can observe things even when you are not able. After all, I am a sentient being." Her tail curled around Karin like a blanket. "But don't think too hard. Rest. You'll feel a lot better when you wake up."

Karin felt drowsy once the tail had covered her. The scales on the dragon made an interesting pillow. Soon she was fast asleep.

Her zanpakto sighed and held her closer. "Please hurry up and learn my name. I want to see my mate again."

* * *

BAHAHAHAHAHA. I lurv cliffhanger-like endings. 8D

A cookie goes to anyone who can guess who Honaga's mate is. 8D


	9. What? Yuzu's a Stalker?

I apologize for taking two weeks to write this. I think that now that school has started, it'll begin to be every two weeks. Or something. I'm sorrrry!! D: Please don't kill me. But I am actually in high school now... so... I wish I could write fast and amazing like other people, but I can't. Sorry.

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN BLEACH, HARRY POTTER, YU-GI-OH!, TWILIGHT, OR... UM... FRUITS BASKET. NOPE. NOTHING. I DO OWN THE OTHER RANDOM PEOPLE IN THIS. THANK YOU.

* * *

Slowly Karin opened her eyes. She was in her room, on her bed, surrounded by people! Blinking her eyes, she slowly sat up, and the people in her room came into a better focus. Yuzu was there, Toshiro was there, Hana and Ami and Ryohei and Heita and Kei and Kazuya were there, and everyone else in her class was there. "Did… did something happen?" she asked. Her sister handed her a glass of water and stroked her hair.

"You fainted right in the middle of class!" Heita exclaimed.

"Yeah, it was so sudden! You just slid out of your chair!" Yuzu said a worried look on her face. "Daddy already looked at you, and he said that you're fine. I was really worried! You just wouldn't respond or anything!"

"Yeah, we really freaked out," Ami said, wide-eyed. "Are we still going to have practice tomorrow? What if you're not well enough?"

Karin waved her hand. "I'll be fine once I move around." She got up, swayed, and stumbled into Toshiro's arms. "Wow, I guess I really am weak," she commented, attempting to straighten herself. "Well, anyway, I'm okay guys. Really. So you can all go home." Turning to her soccer teammates, she said, "I'll tell you guys by lunchtime tomorrow if we're going to have soccer practice, all right?"

People began to leave, each of them wishing Karin well (whether they meant it or not was uncertain). "Hey, Hitsugaya! Come join us!" Kazuya called.

Toshiro shook his head. "Nah, I think I'll help Karin with her missed lessons."

Kei shrugged. "That's fine. See ya Karin!"

Karin waved weakly. "Nice excuse Toshiro. They would've suspected that something was up if you hadn't said that."

"I'm not a captain for nothing Karin," Toshiro grumbled. She gave him a bright smile. He blushed a little and looked away.

"Anyway, seeing as I am dressed, let's go to the bookstore. Your friends back at the Soul Society are in desperate need of Harry Potter and other books."

"You _really_ love those books, don't you?" Toshiro asked, amused.

"Yes!" Karin said excitedly. She tried pulling him out of the room, but it just ended up with her in his arms because she had almost fallen _again._ "Oh fine. We'll walk slowly."

Ten minutes later they weren't even halfway to the store. Karin stumbled every five seconds, and every time she did Toshiro would steady her by grabbing her shoulders. "Why do I keep falling?" she complained. "Just because I fainted or whatever doesn't mean my body has to be this weak!"

"It's because of your soul. You as a shinigami were at Urahara's, getting healed by Tessai. At some point you were healed, but unconscious. Tessai placed you inside your body and your body slid into the same state that your soul was in."

"Why didn't he wait to put me in my body?"

"Urahara wanted to 'have some fun' as he told me." Toshiro's fists clenched. "I really hate that man. Toying with everyone he meets."

"I can see that. Well, the world isn't a perfect place." She frowned. "But what I don't see is why in the world my legs feel so weak. I've seen plenty of people faint and then walk around."

"Again, toying with you. Receiving such injuries is not good for your soul or your body, and that's why _usually_ they will regenerate your strength. I'm betting that Urahara told Tessai something to mess with your healing. He healed your wounds but did not regenerate your strength. Tessai is a kido master, so there is no reason to believe he wouldn't be able to heal you. Plus, I trust him more than I do Urahara, and so I don't think he would neglect you in any way unless Urahara gave him a good reason. The problem is, I haven't an idea what that would be."

Karin shrugged. "Oh well, it won't do us any good spazzing about it. We'd better just move along." She took a careful step forward and another.

A low chuckle sounded in her ear. "I've never heard of 'spazzing' before. What is this 'spazzing'?"

Karin's eyebrows lifted in surprise. "Dragon!" she exclaimed. Ignoring Toshiro's surprised look, she answered her. _Spazzing is well, basically freaking out. If that makes sense._

Her zanpakto's voice turned slightly sardonic. "Of course it does. I'm not _completely_ out of touch you know."

Karin smiled at her zanpakto's words. She wasn't entirely like her, but hey, zanpaktos were supposed to be a different part of a shinigami's soul. "Toshiro? Does Hyorinmaru give advice on everything?"

"Where did that come from?" Toshiro asked, confused.

"Well, I'm just curious. I mean, if you asked, would he advise you on our, um, relationship?"

"Yeah, he would. He'd probably tell me I was being a stupid idiot, but I probably wouldn't listen."

"Idiot how?" she asked, grinning.

"Idiot for falling in love with a human, Ichigo Kurosaki's little sister no less."

The grin slid off her face. How did this conversation get so serious? Did he really mean what he said? Why wasn't she saying anything? She suddenly felt trapped by his steadying hands on her shoulders. "Do you really mean that? You… You'd better not let your fanclub hear," she teased weakly.

"We can talk about that later. As for now, tell me which way to go to the bookstore." Clearly he had picked up on her uneasiness. She pointed in one direction, and slowly they walked down the street.

Meanwhile, Yuzu was discreetly following them. Or, at least, as discreetly as possible. Anyway, she had decided that she would figure out once and for all what her sister and their new houseguest were up to. Everything weird that happened, they both seemed to know about. Like when Karin had fainted that afternoon. Toshiro had picked her up, hardly two minutes after she had fallen. He was the least surprised out of the class. And then there was the fact he kept disappearing after giving Karin some sort of candy. Maybe it was a drug, and he didn't want to be caught at the scene of the crime! She _was_ acting sort of weird, like she would smile a lot more, and then when he reappeared, she would go back to her normal self. Yuzu had no idea why Karin was doing that, he wasn't there to be impressed by her pretty smile after all.

So here she was, missing out on a good shopping opportunity and instead following her sister. She felt kinda bad about it; after all, her sister was her _sister._ You're not supposed to spy on your twin sister. But they were acting too weird for Yuzu to not notice. They acted like they had met before a few days ago.

"They're going to the _bookstore_?" Yuzu asked, incredulous. Her sister didn't often go to the book store. Karin usually went to the sports shop, where she would spend hours testing sports equipment. She liked to read, yeah, but not as much as she loved soccer. On average, it'd take her about a week and a half to finish a two-hundred paged book. "You know," she continued to no one in particular, "I would've suspected Karin to go to the sports shop."

Five minutes after they had entered the book store, she did too. They walked over to the popular section, and she moved close enough to hear their voices.

"All I see is something about an apple and hands."

"Y'idiot, that's _Twilight._ Some stupid romance novel."

"It's a pretty popular stupid romance novel."

"Well, I'm more for the action. Yuzu's crazy about the series."

"She seems the type. You've probably read them then."

"Yup. But I happen to prefer shinigami men over vampire men."

_Shinigami? What? _Yuzu was really confused over that. Surely her sister didn't like Ryuuku from _Death Note_, that'd be weird even for Karin!

"So, anyway, let's get back to what we came here for. Where're the Harry Potter books?"

"In the kids section, but they _should_ be here." A quick silence- Karin must've been scanning through the books to find the familiar covers. "But the question is how many copies do you want?"

"Let's see how popular they are first. I'll come back and buy more if I have to." Yuzu heard him take off the books and place them in something- probably a basket from the front. "Now, take me to the war books. I want to get Captain Zaraki done first."

"Do you think he'll read them?"

"He may not like books, but if they're about fighting, I'm pretty sure he'll read them."

"Okay, well, I'll take you there, and while you decide I'll go find candy stuff for Captain Ukitake."

"Do you think you can handle walking?" His voice sounded worried.

"Of course I can Toshiro. Don't worry about me." Her footsteps walked away, as did his.

_Captain Zaraki? Captain Ukitake? Who are these people?_ Really, who was Karin associating herself with? Did this mean that she had known Hitsugaya before, or did it mean that Hitsugaya had told her shortly before today?

Three hours later, they came by the popular section again. "Oh, what the heck," said Karin. Some thick books were thrown not-so-nicely into his basket. "A present for Momo-san whenever she wakes up."

"Why _Twilight_?"

"Because, she seems like someone who would love romance."

"Well, that's true, but I still don't see why you have to give her those."

"They're the most popular ones out there and they're really easy to read. No hard words, the writing is really easy to understand. Even if I am not fond of it, no point in not letting your friend become like Yuzu."

"I'm… not going to comment." Their feet shuffled along the carpet, heading towards the cashiers. Yuzu, sighing, put down _Eclipse_ and followed them. She'd have to read it again at home.

What was weird about them was that they talked so easily, much easier than a pair who had met only a few days ago. Tonight, Yuzu was going to ask some _questions_ and she was going to get some _answers_.

But for now, she was going to treat herself and buy a cute sundress for Karin's next soccer game.

* * *

Ewies. I do not likeeeee. D: TWILIGHT FANS, DO NOT KILL ME. Please think. Do YOU think Karin would like Twlight (omg, yes, of course she wouldddd!! -don't give me that...-)? It's a bit of a stretch already for her to like reading as much as I have put down. However, I think I made up for it by having Karin believe Momo would like it. I think she would. :D

ANYWAY I will make time pass a bit more in the next chapter. I'll bet you guys have noticed that the play listings were supposed to come out in this chapter, but I FORGOT to mention them. XD Whoops. Well, it's not entirely important anyway.

MY BIRTHDAY IS IN THREE WEEKS. WHEEEEEEEEE!! :D


	10. Yuzu's Part

HELLO EVERYONE. This story lives!! I'm so pleased that I have the tenth chapter done! You see, the computer this file is on (it is referred to as the 'downstairs computer') had a huge spazz. My dad needed to work on it to recover some files, and when I could finally get on, word wouldn't load! The internet wouldn't load! Well, my dad fixed it, and so, _Fire and Ice_ and every other story is back on track!

I'm sorry that you guys had to wait so long for this! This was actually done on Monday! However, I am going back to updating regularly on the weekend.

DISCLAIMER. I own nothing besides Honaga. If I owned Bleach, then, well... I would be awesome. 8D

* * *

Yuzu carefully watched her sister and Hitsugaya for the rest of the evening. They acted quite intimate for acquaintances. _That's it,_ she decided, _I'm talking to Karin-chan tonight, and I'm going to get some answers. She's been hiding something from me._ A sad frown crossed her face. _I thought we were close._

And so, after dinner, Yuzu watched the two of them head upstairs, and heard two different doors shut. Isshin had left to check on the patients in the clinic and would be back in an hour. _Now's my chance! _Yuzu thought. _I just need to hurry with the kitchen._ She grabbed the dishes and hurriedly washed and dried them.

"Lunch, oh, what about lunch?" she fretted. As she debated about making lunch that evening or doing it in the morning, she heard her bedroom door open and close, then her brother's door open and shut. That cleared things up. "I'll just wake up earlier. This is the time to find out what's going on!"

Quietly, she headed upstairs. As she approached her brother's room, their voices were becoming louder. Instead of using a cup, she pressed her ear against the door and listened.

"Karin, no, I'm not forcing you to train when you're still weak from your last battle."

"But I've got to get better! How am I going to kill Hollows all by myself if I don't train?"

"Your body can't handle it!"

"Why won't it? I've been through pain before!"

"And you were an idiot, Karin, for running with that bruised leg."

"It wasn't sprained or twisted or broken, was it?"

"_No_, but you could have messed your knee up."

"Why are you saying it like it's my fault? That middle-schooler was the one who kicked me!"

"I still say your body won't be able to handle it. Instead of coming home tomorrow with bruises and cuts, you'll come home with full-out gashes."

"It's not like my skin got any more fragile."

"No, but the bruises take time to heal. Tessai did an excellent job, but like I said, your healing rate has been messed up because of that idiot Urahara."

"_I'm _sorry, but I don't care. I need to get better, and the only way to do that is to train. Plus, I'll get hurt in battle anyway. What's better than to practice with injuries?

"I said no and I mean _no_!" Toshiro shouted.

"I need to get better!" Karin screamed back.

_I think I should make my move now,_ Yuzu thought, reaching for the door handle.

"Karin, I am your superior, and you are going to listen to me whether you like it or not," Toshiro stated firmly. The temperature was dropping slightly.

"So what? I'm not in a squad, so does it matter?"

Before he could say anything more, Yuzu flung the door open. "I think," she said, crossing her arms, "it's time I knew something." It was dead silent in the room, both of them staring at her with stricken faces. "You can't think that I don't know anything. I'm not that stupid." She shut the door and crossed the room, sitting on the bed.

"Yuzu, there's nothing going on," Karin began, but she was interrupted.

"No! There's been a lot going on these past few days! And years! Whatever onii-chan did while he still lived with us, you're connected to, I know it! I can't believe you guys would think I'm seriously dumb enough to never notice!" Yuzu frowned sadly. "So you are going to tell me right now what's going on _so help me God_!"

Toshiro and Karin looked at each other. What were they going to do? Ordinary humans were not allowed to know about shinigami. Except… Yuzu lived in a house with three shinigami. Wasn't it fair if she knew the dangers of their job? Well, technically, their dad wasn't active, but that didn't matter.

Toshiro sighed, looked at Karin, and nodded. He looked back at Yuzu. "First off, there are such things as shinigami. They are this world's protectors. There are also two types of souls."

Karin stepped in. "Evil ones called Hollows and good ones called pluses. Hollows eat other Hollows, pluses, and sometimes humans. Shinigami are supposed to protect pluses and send them on to the Soul Society, and to exorcise Hollows."

"I come from the Soul Society. There, I am Captain of the Tenth Squad." He waited a moment, letting it sink in.

"I don't get it Hitsugaya-kun. Why are you here if you're a Captain? And what are the ranks anyway?"

"The Soul Society," he answered, "has Thirteen Court Guard Squads. In those squads, there are seated officers and those that are not. The rankings vary, but usually there are at least seven seats. Captain, Vice-Captain, Third Seat, Fourth Seat, and so on. Aside from the Court Guard Squads, there are border patrol units."

"Okay, so, you're a Captain of a Squad." He nodded. "But why are you here?"

"I'm here because I was ordered to turn your sister into a shinigami representative."

"But Karin-chan's alive!"

Karin spoke again. "There's a way to turn a human into a shinigami. It doesn't always work," she warned, "but it is for a human to take a shinigami's sword and thrust it through their heart while the shinigami pours some spiritual pressure into the sword. Shinigami swords are called zanpaktos."

"So, you're a shinigami now?" Yuzu asked.

Karin nodded. "And Ichi-nii is too. He was made one when he was fifteen."

Yuzu's eyes widened. "But that was four years ago!"

"Yes. He's been a great help ever since," Toshiro said. "Right now, the Soul Society is at war against Hollows. Three of our Captains betrayed us and are in control of Hueco Mundo, the place where Hollows go. The situation's desperate, which is why I had to turn Karin into a shinigami."

Yuzu was silent. Her family was involved in a war right under her nose. "How can I help?" she asked quietly.

Toshiro was taken aback. He was thinking about simply replacing her memories and dealing with this when she figured it out again. But it was possible she could help, after all, she did live with three shinigami, and she _must _have some spiritual abilities. "You can help by covering for us for starters."

"And you can heal us when we get hurt!" Karin said brightly. "You're a better nurse than I am. And since Ichi-nii and I are shinigami, you must be able to have spiritual pressure."

"But I can only see spirits, not touch or talk to them," Yuzu protested.

"That should be enough," Toshiro said, "for what we want you to do. I can't teach you how to access your spiritual abilities for healing, because I know they're there, but when we come home, we'd like it if you were there to heal our wounds."

Yuzu thought. It meant that she could help her sister. The whole talk meant that they trusted her. "Okay, I'll do it," she declared.

"Great!" Karin exclaimed. "As for me, I'm going to bed. Good night Toshiro, good night Yuzu." She left the room, shutting the door behind her.

"Hitsugaya-kun, why _do_ you let only Karin-chan call you by your first name?" Yuzu asked curiously.

"Sometimes, I don't know," he said softly. "I like it when she calls me by my first name."

"Hitsugaya-kun, if you hurt her, I'll make sure to tell Ichi-nii and I'm sure he'll come up with some way to make you pay." Yuzu stood up and headed towards the door.

"Hurt her how?" Toshiro asked, confused. He had only said two sentences!

"Karin-chan loves you, I can tell. And I can also tell that you love her. But if you do something stupid and think it's for the best, I'm sending my brother on you." She opened the door and left the room.

Karin was waiting for her back in their room. "How did you figure it out?" she asked. It was only too obvious what she meant.

"You guys were careless. For one, you were always together. That had to signify something. And then, I overheard you arguing about training. I'm not _that_ dense you know," she said, crossing her arms.

"What if we were always together for a different reason?"

"I would find out about that reason. Even if it was that you guys were secretly dating. Of course, I'd be hurt you didn't trust me enough to keep your relationship a secret."

"Well, duh." Karin sighed with relief. "I actually feel better, now that you know."

"I feel better being trusted." Yuzu smiled and sat down on her bed. "But Karin-chan, please, be careful. Don't let yourself get hurt."

"Nah, I've fought Hollows before."

"That's not what I meant. I meant, are you okay with loving a shinigami?"

Karin froze. Gosh darn it, her sister was _good_! And people called Yuzu oblivious. She could either lie and pretend she didn't know what Yuzu was talking about, or she could tell the truth. "I am," she said, choosing the truth. "Even though I know it'll be painful, I'd like to think I love him."

"Why not just say you do?"

"Because face it, I hardly know him."

"True, I guess. But what about love at first sight?"

"Yuzu, have you been watching Cinderella lately?" Karin teased.

Yuzu blushed. "Only the Disney version!"

"Well, you've obviously never figured it out. Love at first sight doesn't happen in real life. You have to work at it."

"So you admit that you like him very much."

"I admit that I like him more than a friend should, and more than a human should feel for a shinigami."

"Then that's good enough for me," Yuzu stated simply. The two of them began undressing for bed as she thought. _Karin-chan and Hitsugaya-kun may not think they're in love, but I do. The signs are too much to be just a simple crush. What Karin-chan says is true, but I believe that they a merely at the beginning of a deep, passionate love. How it shall end, I don't know, but I hope, for her sake_—she glanced at her sister, who was staring, dazed, out the window, robotically going through movement—_that it ends well._

_

* * *

_

You like? Was it okay?

My stories actually are written as they go. I have how it'll end and how it'll begin, but NEVER the middle. XD I rreaalllly need to fix that.

Anyway, I've decided to do a little 'fun' thing in my author's notes down here at the bottom from now on.

First, what's your favorite candy?

Mine, today (it varies), is mike and ikes.


	11. Training:Rings of Fire

Hey guys! Sorry this is WAY late. But I'm glad I got it updated!

Chance O' Neal, I am extremely honored that you read my story. -bows- I appreciate all your criticism, and I sincerely hope that this is up to par with your ideals.

Okay, so, I decided to give Honaga (I hope you guys didn't forget Karin's zanpakto's name) a little more description. I need to find a place to give her an actual height, but I think she'd be about the height of a ten-story building.

Oh. And I don't really care if I've got some names spelled wrong. DEAL WITH IT.

Honaga is the only thing that belongs to me. Unfortunately. I wish Karin and Toushirou would at least meet eyes!

* * *

She smelled the place before she opened her eyes. Karin knew she was back in her zanpakto world. She scrambled up and looked around herself. The area she was in was new to her, but a path winded through the bushes and leaves and flowers. Hoping it would lead her to the clearing, she carefully stepped onto the dirt path. Realizing that it didn't hurt to walk and that she didn't stumble, she jogged along at an even pace.

"Welcome, Karin," the dragon greeted her when she arrived. This time, Karin got a better look at her counterpart. The dragon was varying shades of red, the most scarlet at the crown of her head and the deepest blood-red at the tip of her tail. Her eyes were huge, orange, and luminous—scary if caught in them for too long, Karin thought. Carefully, she stepped over to the huge creature and sat down against her side.

The scales felt snake-like in their smooth texture. "Why did I come here?" she asked quietly.

"Your healing rate was taking too long, so I decided to step in. I want you to become stronger too."

"How are you stepping in?" Karin asked curiously.

"I'm burning the sources of your reitsu so it'll regenerate faster. Your body is running through a high fever right now."

Oh. So that's why she was called to the peaceful jungle. The grass under her feet was slowly turning a more luscious green. "Do you know what Urahara had done to me?"

"He had Tessai block the source of your reitsu regeneration place. Only high-level healers or kidou masters know where to find someone's regeneration site, as it's different for everyone."

"Why would he do that? That's stupid."

"Maybe he wants the young Hitsugaya to stay here longer and train you more." The dragon clearly knew another reason, but Karin figured she didn't want to be burnt to a crust, so she didn't badger her. "Aizen doesn't want you to attain shikai, which, if you follow your brother's example, you'll gain by at least the set amount of time Toushirou's here. He's afraid of the team the two of you would create."

"Dragon, how do you know this?" Karin raised an eyebrow skeptically.

"I can talk to other zanpakto, now that you have visited me. It is what I have been able to gather from what I have said to some of the others. When you learn my name I will be able to talk to them more clearly."

"Okay, so, he's afraid of us becoming a really strong tag team. Why would we be strong at all? Toushirou's said before that he has an ice zanpakto. Mine would destroy it."

"You'll be amazed at how well fire and ice work together," her companion told her. She shifted, and suddenly she was standing on her enormous clawed feet. "It's high time I gave you some training."

Karin groaned. "Training? Come, on! You've got to be kidding me!"

"You don't want training?" the dragon asked, surprised. "You've been bugging the poor captain about it."

"But, but… you're a giant beast! A dragon! I'd be burnt to a crisp if I tried training!"

The dragon snorted, puffs of smoke coming out of her nostrils. "Yeah, right. Who said I was going to actually fight you? There are other ways to train, smarty."

An embarrassed look fell across Karin's face. "Um… whoops. Sorry. So, what is this training?"

"This." She blew giant rings of flame, and they settled in a circle around the clearing. "The point is to run or jump through the rings. Each time you pass through one, it will shrink, so as you continuously run through the rings they will get smaller and smaller. Let's see how many times you can run through them without burning yourself."

Karin looked up at her strangely, but ran. She easily jumped through them the first round, the same for the second and third. By the fifteenth round, it was getting quite difficult to jump through the rings. Her twentieth? _Please. That's way too small for me to jump through,_ Karin thought, looking at the ring.

She took a moment of deliberation, and tried diving through it. The fire touched her sleeve, and it burst into flame, scorching her skin. Karin fell, shrieking in surprise, and in a split second all the rings blinked out, followed by the fire burning her arm. "Ow! Ow! What's _with_ that training?" she demanded.

"It is supposed to teach you something. I thought you understood what it was, but apparently, I was wrong." Her voice was sad. "You must trust me."

"I do trust you!" Karin protested.

"If you did, you wouldn't have been burned. Go, sleep again."

Before she could protest, Karin felt her body go limp, and her eyelids became too heavy to keep them open. Without another thought, she fell asleep.

* * *

When she opened her eyes again, she found herself once more in the company of large red flowers. "I wonder what would happen if I plucked one of those," she thought aloud, reaching for a stem. The flower broke off easily, but Karin remained alert. What _would_ happen here, in a place she didn't know well?

Touching the petals, Karin gasped in pain and dropped the flower. It was burning! It was burning hot! How could she before have thought it comfortable to touch? "What's happening to me?" she screeched, glaring at the flowers.

"You do not trust me… You do not trust yourself…" a deep voice answered. It was her zanpakto speaking. But why wasn't she there, in front of her, to guide her?

"Where are you? What's going on?" Karin cried flailing her arms as the world burst into flame.

* * *

As Karin was busy training with her zanpakto and having a nightmare, Yuzu and Toushirou worriedly watched over her as she lay in bed. She was heavily sweating, shaking her head side to side, and groaning.

"No, Karin-chan, please, wake up!" Yuzu sobbed, shaking her sister. She took the cloth off her sister's forehead and dipped it into the bowl she had next to her, squeezing out the excess water and replacing it.

Toushirou was holding her hand, and it was clenching his. Her grip was tight enough that it was puncturing his skin. She was afraid, he could tell. "Karin, please, wake up from your nightmare…" he said softly.

Karin let out a shriek, which made the other two jump. Yuzu's tears began flowing faster as she tried again and again to wake up her sister.

Then, suddenly, she stopped. Karin stopped panting, groaning, and shaking her head. The sweat continued to pour down her face and her neck, but her breathing was barely audible.

"Hitsugaya-kun… is she going to die?"

"No. This isn't sickness. She's undergoing something in her inner world."

"What?" Yuzu looked at him, confused.

"Her inner world. She's doing something with her zanpakto. We shouldn't try to wake her up. Even though it hurts to say this… she's not going to regain consciousness."

Yuzu wailed, throwing her arms over her sister. Toushirou watched, knowing there was nothing he could do.

* * *

Karin opened her eyes once more to the clearing. "You're awake. Good."

"What was that?" Karin asked warily, shifting to a sitting position. The dragon landed on the ground with an earth-shaking tremor.

"What will happen if you don't learn to trust me," she said seriously. "This world will burst into unquenchable flame, and you will die. You must trust me."

"I'm not going to learn what you mean by that unless you give me a little hint on that!" Karin shouted irritably. _Come on. I hate people who speak in enigmas. It's really annoying._

"Try it again." The rings reappeared, huge and menacing. Karin stood up, annoyed, but began once more to jump through them.

She burned herself at the twentieth round, and again she was made to run through them. Again and again, through the loops, around the dragon. Karin kept getting burnt and starting over that she eventually stopped after a jump.

_What am I doing wrong? What do I have to do to trust her, as she says? How long have I been doing this anyway? It feels like forever._

* * *

"It's been a week," Yuzu said, voice cracking. "Daddy, when is she going to wake up?" She looked hopefully up at her father.

"I'm sorry honey," he said, sighing. "I don't know." He knew what his daughter was going through, but he didn't think it'd be wise to let his other daughter know. She probably presumed that he didn't know what Karin was now or what Toushirou was.

"Her fever hasn't lowered or risen. It's just the same. Daddy…" Yuzu broke off, not knowing what to say, too afraid to cry again.

Toushirou watched from the doorway, dressed for school. Progress for the play had been slowed, as they were missing the main character. Nearly everyone was worried that she'd never wake up and that they'd need to give the part to another person, which was something none of the guys wanted to do and some of the girls too.

At school, the subject of Karin's health was mostly what everyone was talking about. Rumors that she had cancer, leukemia, the flu, various STDs, and that she was dying floated about the school, and the only two people that knew the truth refused to speak. Toushirou was colder than ever, and talking to him about her caused the room's temperature to drop dramatically. Yuzu burst into tears every time someone asked and ran towards the bathrooms.

"Yuzu-chan, I think you need to get to school. You'll be late." Yuzu looked up at her father. "Don't worry; I'll call the school if she wakes up." Satisfied, Yuzu stood up and left the house with Toushirou.

Her father looked at Karin and sighed. He took the towel off her head, gave her face and neck a few wipes, and left the room. There was nothing he could do to wake her up, and he had other patients to tend to. Watching her hopelessly was wasting their time and lives.

* * *

After being burnt and healed thousands of times, Karin knew there was something wrong, something she had missed. But _what_? It was impossible to tell. This training was stupid. "Trust me," the dragon kept saying. Which was strange; Karin_ did_ trust her.

Staring at the ring of flame before her, Karin was surprised. The fire was pretty, and the heat was warm. Why was she afraid of this thing? She reached out to it, unafraid of being burned, and grabbed the ring.

Instead of being burned, the fire tickled. It felt like a cat rubbing its face into her hand. She laughed, threw the ring into the air and caught it. Turning to her zanpakto, she grinned.

"At last, you have learned to trust me. Now go, go and sleep peacefully."

Before Karin could ask what she meant by that, she slumped to the ground, asleep.

* * *

I could actually go on, but I felt that this would be a good place to stop. I wrote all of this today, so I'm happy! :D I've also got some of chapter twelve on its way. Happy New Year everyone!


	12. Wake Up!

Hey hey hey, lookit! I'm updating quickly for once! .D

School starts tomorrow... TT-TT Looks like... my winter vacation is... over...

Standard disclaimer applies. I SO wish I owned Bleach, it's amazing...

* * *

Toushirou walked into her room after school. Yuzu was downstairs, cooking, and he decided to check up on her before doing his homework. To his surprise, she was breathing normally and the sweat on her body was dry. "Karin?" he asked softly, approaching her bed and dropping his bag.

"Tou… shirou…" she mumbled. She opened her eyes slowly.

"I'm glad to see you're awake," he said, still in the same soft tone.

"She told me… to trust… her…" she croaked. Frowning, she said, "Water…"

After she drank the water Toushirou gave to her, she sat up. "My zanpakto, she said to trust her… She kept saying that, and I still don't get it."

"Why don't you tell me exactly what happened?" Toushirou asked.

"I was in my inner world. She told me that she was making my reitsu-production speed up because Tessai blocked the regeneration place to slow my healing rate. Well, anyway, she had me train. I was supposed to jump through rings of fire over and over until I couldn't jump through them because they shrank every time I jumped through them.

"Then, I fell asleep and I had a nightmare. When I woke up, she told me that if I didn't trust her, my inner world would light on fire and I'd die."

"And? You kept telling her that you did trust her, right?" Toushirou didn't know what to make of this story of hers. Rarely did zanpakto show the destruction of their world. They usually told ominous tales to their shinigami, and it was left at that. No one wanted to see how their world would be destroyed.

"Yeah! But she didn't seem to listen to me! Anyway, after a million times of doing it, I stopped and tried to figure out what I was doing wrong."

"What were you doing wrong?"

"I was scared of the fire. That's what was wrong. I looked at it, and it didn't seem scary anymore, so I picked it up. I guess she was pleased, because—" she gulped another glass of water "—she let me sleep and wake up here."

"Well, it's true; your reitsu is at its original level. We're glad you're awake." He gave her a small smile. "Now, I think it best to let Yuzu take over, because I don't know what you're supposed to do now." He stood up and turned to leave the room.

"Hey, Toushirou, do you know why she was pleased when I finally wasn't afraid of the fire?"

Toushirou stopped, and thought a moment. "Maybe it's because she _is_ fire. You finally not being afraid of it made her happy. Though I can't be sure, since she's not part of my soul." He shut the door behind him.

"I wonder… Maybe he's right about that." She stared up at the ceiling, preparing herself for her sister.

Sure enough, when Yuzu saw her, she started crying out of happiness, ran to her bed, and squeezed her tightly. "Karin-chan, I'm so happy you're awake!" she cried. Wiping the tears from her face, she switched to nurse-mode. "Do you feel like you can walk?"

"Yeah."

"Do you think you can take a shower?"

"I think I need one." Karin's nose wrinkled.

"Do you need me to be in the bathroom with you? Just in case?"

"I'll be fine, don't worry." Karin stood up, and with Yuzu's assistance, she walked to the bathroom. As soon as Yuzu let go, she easily walked on her own and shut the door. She smiled at Yuzu's surprised gasp. _Yuzu, you've got a lot to get used to. Just because you know what's going on doesn't mean you understand it._

Coming out of her shower fifteen minutes later, dressed in her comfortable clothes, she headed downstairs to talk to Toushirou—to plan, to discuss. "Hey," she said, plopping down into the chair across from him. "I think we need to get my training schedule planned out."

"Before any of that happens, you need to do your homework. And we have play practice before school, so it makes being able to get sleep difficult." He thought a moment, and moved the script he was holding aside. "You are in perfect shape, so we can practice sword-fighting every day after school. After dinner and when you're done with your homework, we can practice kidou. At least, what I know of kidou. If you _really_ want a good teacher for that, you'd have to ask Tessai or Captain Kuchiki. Rukia Kuchiki is pretty good at it too, so we could have her train you too."

"How long are we going to spend on kidou and sword fighting?"

"Longer on sword fighting, since I know more things about it. We'll spend two hours only on kidou, since you'll need your sleep."

"What about you?" Karin demanded.

"I don't sleep that much. I don't need as much as you do."

"Oh. Right. You're dead."

Toushirou frowned at her. Before he could reply, she laughed. "Lighten up! I was joking. If that were true, then Rukia wouldn't have needed to sleep in my brother's closet."

"That's not…" he sighed and gave up. "Whatever. Anyway, how does that sound for you?" He handed her the schedule.

Her eyes widened, but she nodded. "Except I have soccer practice on Tuesdays and Fridays, and games almost every Saturday. We'll have to work around those days; because there's no way I'm going to skip them. I'm captain of the team." Her face dared him to deny her soccer time.

He sighed again. His cold personality let her do whatever she wanted. He was melting, like ice by fire too long. "Fine. We have to make a show that you're still a normal student anyways. But as soon as you're done with practice, it's training time. I refuse to lose more time."

"Fine by me." Karin turned to the counter where Yuzu had left a pot of tea, pouring some. "Want some?" she asked. He shook his head, so she shrugged and sipped her tea. "What about today?"

"Today, you're catching up on your homework." He pointed to the sizable stack of papers she had noticed earlier.

She groaned. "You're kidding! Stupid." Karin pulled the stack towards her and began to plow through her homework. After half an hour of silence, she spoke again. "Sooo… what's been going on at school?"

"You've been a popular subject among everyone."

"Really? How so?"

"You've been gone an entire week. Apparently you've never missed that much school."

"No… I haven't. But everyone?"

"The play. You're the main character."

"Wasn't our play _Pride and Prejudice_?"  
"It still is. I'm Darcy."

She stared. "The two of us… main characters? Oh… oh wow." Karin was rarely speechless, but this rendered her so. "That's going to be a problem."

"Why?" he asked, slightly puzzled.

"I'd have to wear a _dress_!" her face expressed horror. "I hate wearing dresses!"

He chuckled. "You're not even scared about performing? Just a dress? You'll be wearing a lot of them you know."

"That's the problem." Her face expressed fear as well. "I look ridiculous in dresses. I mean, the ones Yuzu tries to force me in."

"Does she force you into big, poofy dresses with huge bows on your head?"

"Yeah." Her face scrunched into a disgusted look.

"I hate to break it to you, but none of the dresses so far are poofy. Or big. And the bows are quite small."

"I… _guess _that's okay," she muttered. "Are my lines amongst all these papers?"

"No. Don't start ruffling through them."

"Are you going to give them to me?"

"When you're done with your homework."

"Darn it." She went back to her English assignment. The phone rang, but instead of reaching for it, she continued her homework. Yuzu would pick it up anyway.

Five minutes later, Yuzu came downstairs squealing and crying. "Karin-chan! Hitsugaya-kun! Onii-chan's coming home for a few days!"

Dead silence followed her statement. Karin and Toushirou stared at one another, and then back at her. "That's great!" Karin finally said, cracking a smile. Yuzu ran back up the stairs, chatting rapidly with her brother.

Karin and Toushirou stared at each other in silence.

"We are _so_ screwed."

* * *

Hey hey. :D I think this introduces an interesting plot twist. I am trying to lay out the plot line, and this is actually a part of it! :D

By the way, my sister found my pencil bag. I don't know if I told you or not, but I lost it... It has my schedule in it too... So it's good she found it!

What's your favorite book and why (you are NOT allowed to say twilight. Don't even try.)?

Mine is _Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban_. It revolves around a subject people have been trying to figure out for centuries: time. It also has a lot of new characters, which I love having. :D


	13. Confrontation of Memories

OH MY GAWD this took FOREVER to write. -dies- Ugh. Foreevvverrrzzz. But I've finally managed it! By the way, this chapter is **5,656 **words long. That's even longer than chapter seven (or maybe it was six, I forget now).

Standard disclaimer applies.

* * *

That's exactly what they were. Screwed. Ichigo stared down at Hitsugaya, who stared back up. "What are you doing in my house?" he demanded. "Aren't you supposed to be at the Soul Society or something?"

Toushirou's eye visibly twitched in irritation. "Orders from the Captain-Commander himself. Do I have to say more?"

"Yes. _What are you doing in my house_?" Ichigo repeated, foot tapping in impatience.

"I offered him a place to stay Ichi-nii," Karin cut it, taking Toushirou's arm. "If you need us, we'll be in my room, practicing."

"Wait! Practicing for what?" Ichigo called, face suddenly turning worried.

"The play of course!" she called down the stairs, and slammed the door.

"Onii-chan!" Yuzu cried, breaking into his thoughts. "I'm so glad you could visit! Come in!"

Upstairs while Yuzu was distracting (on purpose or not was unclear to the two of them) her brother, Karin watched Toushirou pace the room from her bed. "What's our excuse going to be? You could have easily gone and stayed at Orihime-nee's house, right?"

"Yeah, that's true. Though, I didn't and still don't feel like staying in another person's house without them knowing." His frown deepened.

"So, back to our problem. How am I going to defeat Hollows if my brother goes on the job instead? Plus, how am I even going to _train_ when my brother's in town? Yuzu's going to want us to do about a zillion things everyday after school because he's home for who knows how long, I won't be able to get away."

"You're always playing soccer, right? You can say you need to practice soccer."

"You know… she might actually fall for that. Or, she'll understand that I need to train. After all, she does know what's going on."

"Well, let's practice this script anyway," Toushirou said, tossing her packet to her.

She easily caught it and flipped to one of the pages. Almost as soon as she began speaking, Ichigo barged in. "What the heck Ichigo? I thought I said we'd be practicing!" Karin had her hands on her hips, glaring at her brother.

"I… I was sent to come get you guys! Yuzu wants you!" He turned tail and ran from the room.

"Dunno if he's lying or not, but we'd better follow him," Karin said, shrugging.

That night neither Karin nor Toushirou got much sleep, as Ichigo constantly went into his sisters' room, threw the closet open, sighed in relief when he found Toushirou wasn't there, loudly ran down the stairs, stopped at the couch and leaned over, and ran back up when he found Toushirou was where he was supposed to be. The fifth time that happened, Toushirou gave an icy glare and threatened to freeze Ichigo if he did it one more time, because unlike Ichigo, he had school in the morning. Before Ichigo could ask why he'd be going to school, he said, "Part of the mission. I am to protect all spiritually-seeing in the vicinity. Now go to _sleep_ Kurosaki, before I kill you." He turned over and pulled the sheets over his head.

Ichigo left in a huff, and at last the house got sleep.

Over the course of the next few days, Karin and Toushirou grew grumpier and grumpier. Every night, the same thing happened: Ichigo would constantly check to make sure that Karin and Toushirou were _not_ sleeping in the same room, much to their annoyance.

"He's being overprotective, and I hate it," Karin grumbled to Toushirou. "He knows perfectly well that we're not in the same room."

"That may be, but pay attention." She barely had time to block his sword with hers. They had been sparring for the last three hours straight, because Toushirou had said that there were times you couldn't stop to rest during a battle. Karin parried and gave a side-swipe, managing to hit him in the ribs. He grunted, but retaliated.

"I don't understand why they do this everyday," Ami muttered to Hana. "I don't even know why _we_ do this everyday." They were the only two that day; usually, they had about five more girls with them.

"I don't know why they do this either. But if they do anything out of line, we'll catch them in the act."

"I don't get what the point is. Karin's the captain of our team."

"We had to play an entire week and a half without her. And look, we survived."

"Hana, I don't really care…" Ami trailed off, still watching Toushirou and Karin spar. _He's so cool…_ she thought, sighing inside. _I wish I could get lessons, just so I could be near him…_

"The rest of us care, so it doesn't matter what you think. We're watching out for both of them, if it makes you feel better."

Ami mumbled something, and resumed the watch.

"Toushirou," Karin muttered when their faces were close enough for a whispered conversation. "Have you—" she backed away, swinging her sword and then closing in again, "—noticed that we're being watched?"

"Of course I have," he muttered back, twisting away from her stab. "What do you expect me to do about it?"

"I'm not sure. But it's beginning to bother me."

"It provides an excellent training exercise. Sometimes, you'll fight being watched. This helps focus your mind."

Karin stiffened suddenly, throwing herself out of balance and almost being speared through her arm by his sword. "Hollow's nearby," she said seriously.

He checked his soul pager, and sure enough, it began beeping. "Two blocks down, nearby the grocery store." Toushirou tossed a soul candy to her, which she caught and swallowed quickly. "Be careful, we don't need another setback."

"Shut up, I know," she hissed, and they raced together towards the Hollow.

The Hollow this time around was easy to defeat, much to Toushirou's relief. "Okay," he called over to her. "We can have the rest of the afternoon off, since you defeated a Hollow."

"Really? Awesome!" Karin shouted, quickly jogging over to him. "Now I just need my body, and we'll be all set to do something." They walked to her house at a leisurely pace, quietly basking in each other's presence.

Just as they walked through the door, Ichigo looked up from the table. He stared at them, face growing red with anger. "_Toushirou_!" he shouted angrily. "What have you _done_ to my _sister_?!" Ichigo jumped up, and lifted Toushirou roughly by the collar.

"Hey, hey, Ichigo, put him down!" Karin demanded, yanking on his hand. "He had orders from the Captain-Commander to do it, it's not like he did it because he wanted to!"

Ichigo's grip relaxed, and Toushirou was placed back on the floor. "What? You're saying that old man told Toushirou to make you into a shinigami representative?"

"He did. She did, however, have the opportunity to refuse," Toushirou answered. Karin looked at him, furious that he had divulged that particular piece of information.

"Yeah? And why didn't you Karin?" Ichigo demanded.

"Because, stupid, I _want_ to do this. I _wanted _this job."

"Karin, don't you know how dangerous this job is?" Ichigo asked.

"Yes," she answered fiercely. "And now that you know, I don't need to hide it at all. Toushirou and I are running on a strict schedule, thanks. So if you don't mind, where's my body? We're going to go have some fun since I defeated a Hollow twenty minutes ago."

Ichigo was slightly shocked, but jabbed his thumb up the stairs. "She's in your room. Where will you be going?"

She started to run up the stairs. "Oh, you know a walk around town. Maybe a little shopping; who knows? We're just going out to relax."

Toushirou walked pass Ichigo, meaning to change his clothes, but was stopped. "If you hurt my sister, I'll kill you," Ichigo growled. He roughly let go.

Five minutes later Karin and Toushirou were walking out the door with promises to be in time for dinner. "Come on, let's hurry before he changes his mind," Karin whispered, walking faster.

"Do you know where we're going, exactly?" Toushirou asked, easily keeping up.

"The park. I didn't want to tell Ichigo that, because if he knew he'd follow us."

"If you don't want him following, it'd be easiest if we were on the rooftops."

"Oh, sure," her voice rose to a normal tone. "Like we can do _that._ Come on Toushirou, you don't have your powers yet; I'm not trusting jumping on rooftops until that happens."

He looked embarrassed, but stopped talking. They arrived at the park a short time later and sat at a bench secluded from the other people. "Hey, Toushirou?" Karin asked, facing him.

"Yeah, what?"

"When I first talked to you, you said something about memories."

Toushirou took a moment, but nodded, remembering. "What of it?"

"Can you tell me what those memories are?" she asked, voice growing smaller.

He frowned slightly. There was nothing to be afraid of. "Of course I can, why are you afraid of that?"

"You don't seem to like it when people ask into your private business," she said, sounding relieved.

"You might as well know what you can about me, since we're working together." He took a moment to collect his thoughts. "I was born in the West Rukongai, First District. Or, at least, I appeared there. We usually refer to those places as our birthplaces." He checked to see if Karin was following him. Her bright black-purple eyes were riveted upon him, so he continued. "It wasn't long before Momo found me and took me to her home, where she lived with someone she referred to as 'Grandmother' and urged me to do the same.

"We lived in this peaceful way for a few years. I rarely spoke to anyone besides the two I lived with, which was both my fault and others'. I wasn't social like they were, and they were scared of me. Instead, I spent most of my time exploring the areas I was in, but always making sure to never worry Momo and Grandmother.

"Then, Momo came home one day saying she wanted to go to the Soul Academy. I tried convincing her not to; after all, what good would it be to be a shinigami? Since we were from the Rukongai, the noble snobs wouldn't like us. She persisted, and she came to us to say that she'd be leaving, but she'd be back to visit."

"Did she visit very often?" Karin asked, taking a chance to speak.

"No. When I went to the Sereitei, I had plenty of opportunities to visit Grandmother. Granted, sometimes I didn't go to visit, but I still went more often then Momo did." He thought a moment, but continued with where he had left off. "It was Matsumoto who told me I needed to go to the Soul Academy. She told me that since my reiatsu was going about unchecked, I was slowly killing my Grandmother. So, regretfully, I left."

"Why didn't you want to be a shinigami?" Karin asked. "I thought you liked your job."

"I didn't want to be one because I didn't want the responsibilities."

Karin burst into laughter, causing him to blush. "_What_?! You didn't want the responsibilities? You're joking, right?" He shook his head. "Well, you've certainly undergone a personality change since then, because all you ever seem to talk about is responsibility."

He twitched, acknowledging her comment. "Well, I had to grow up considerably. I entered the school, became a shinigami shortly after, and was soon elevated to the rank of Captain."

"So, where do the memories come in?"

"Mostly my life in the Rukongai." He leaned back. "We weren't rich, but we lived in an okay house at the top of the valley. The view was beautiful. Grandmother grew a patch of watermelons behind the house for the two of us, especially for me since it's my favorite food. Momo and I used to talk about what we wanted to do with our lives. We'd make up crazy adventures for one another, and Grandmother would bring plates of sliced watermelon for us."

Karin began to feel lost, and lonely. Toushirou didn't need her, he had Momo, and they had grown up together. His affection for Momo was obvious. _But why does it hurt this badly? We barely know each other compared to that. I mean, we've known each other for what, a month total? There's no reason I should be this hurt. No reason at all._ Despite her reassurances to herself, she still felt injured.

Toushirou had been struggling to understand where he had gone wrong with Momo for so long. Hadn't he shown her how much he loved her? The hurt he felt when he saw how infatuated she was with Aizen shortly after entering the Academy that had lasted for so long was slowly washing away. _But…why?_ he thought, somewhat confused. _I'm quite positive that I loved her. So how can it be that she's becoming less and less important to me?_

"Toushirou, I have a question for you," Karin said, interrupting his thoughts. He looked up. "Did you ever love Momo? I think I've asked you this before, but I really do want to know. It's important to me."

_Will I hurt your feelings if I say yes?_ "I did. It seemed that it would always be that way, that I'd love Momo while she'd always be infatuated with Aizen."

Her face dropped, but she tried to put on a smile. "Well, now she can love you instead, since we know that Aizen's the bad guy."

He chuckled slightly, shaking his head. "No, it doesn't work that way Karin. Besides, when I close my eyes, she isn't who I see."

"Really? Wow, I'm impressed. I don't think I know how to do that."

He raised his eyebrows. "Well now, that's unusual." She punched his shoulder out of embarrassment. "Anyway, here, I'll tell you. Shut your eyes." She did so, and he did too. "Now, think of yourself with all your friends and family. Everyone is standing before you except one person. Who is standing next to you, as your husband? Because this is your wedding day."

Karin saw. Her husband's hand was clasped into hers, and she felt herself smile. She looked through her friends, seeing their happy faces, and her family. Her mother was there, which she supposed was okay, since this was not real, her sister and father were crying, and her brother was giving a happy grin too. After looking several times through them all, she began to worry. Where was Toushirou? Where was he? Where? After looking frantically again, she turned to ask her husband.

Her eyes widened. It was Toushirou, looking at her with love. She should have known. Of course it'd be him. _No other guy has made me feel so complete, so happy, like Toushirou has. He's made me feel like I'm wanted and needed._

Toushirou, likewise, was looking through his friends. Not surprisingly, Momo was standing in front of him with everyone else instead of by his side. For some reason, she had never stood next to him. He had always considered it a fluke, since she had always stood right in front of him, instead of now, where she was standing with the others. Every time, he was unable to turn to see the girl with him for an unknown reason. So this time, he tried again.

And he succeeded. Smiling up at him, or maybe it was more like grinning, was Karin. _This is right,_ he thought. _This picture is complete._

Karin spoke now, interrupting his thoughts again. "But Toushirou, what if the person standing next to you is someone you can never have?"

"Well, what do you mean?" he asked, opening his eyes.

"I mean what I just said. What if there's something stopping you from being with that person?"

"Then… I don't know. Why?"

_Should I tell him? I don't think I could bear it if I held this in for long,_ she thought mournfully. She stood up. "Because Toushirou. I see you." She turned to run, but he caught her hand like she had caught his so long ago.

"Karin, stop. I have to tell you something."

She waited, knowing that he was going to turn her down. She was never going to feel comfortable with him again after this.

"Karin, whenever I tried seeing this, I could never turn to see my wife."

"But you just said that you always saw Momo…" she said, confused.

"That's true, I did. She always stood right in front of me, like she was about to hug me. This time, she stood with the others. Also, this time, I was able to turn and see the woman next to me."

"And?" Her heart beat faster as she waited for him to finish.

"I saw you."

_Okay, bye-bye heart,_ Karin thought. "Don't be joking, seriously?"

"I'm dead serious."

"Toushirou, I—" she was interrupted by a voice.

"Well, look at this. The young Captain Hitsugaya, in love with a human girl? And here I thought that you'd always be in love with dear Hinamori-kun."

Toushirou jolted at the voice, but shot up and slid in front of Karin. "Aizen! Come out!"

The voice laughed. "I'm sorry; my voice is only being projected over to where the two of you can hear me. I am not in the vicinity."

Toushirou relaxed slightly. Neither of them was prepared to fight, so it was good Aizen was not there to attack them. "Then what do you want?" he demanded.

Aizen laughed again. "I want this war to end of course. I have thought about this for a while now, and I have made my decision. I wish to battle you, Hitsugaya-kun, and your lovely partner here. The loser dies, as it is only natural."

Toushirou was whiter-skinned than most everyone else due to his having the natural affinity to things cold and white. At this statement, however, his normally white skin turned four shades whiter. "Are you playing with me? She hasn't even activated shikai!"

"Well then, you'll just have to train her until she does, hmm?" Aizen's voice paused. "All right, I suppose it is fair. You _may_ tell the young Ichigo Kurosaki if you so wish. However, he is not allowed to interfere with our fight. Three against one is very unfair you know."

"Then what's the point of telling him?" Karin demanded, speaking for the first time.

"To help you activate your shikai of course. Fighting against someone who has access to their shinigami powers is much better than someone who does not." Their eyes widened, but they supposed it was only natural that he knew. "This fight will take place in three weeks tomorrow, at eleven in the evening. Have a good day you two." Aizen spoke no more.

Silence followed for a few minutes before Karin let out a wild scream. Toushirou jumped and reached a hand out to her, but she whacked it away and raced over to a nearby tree. Still screaming, she kicked the tree with so much ferocity that she was in danger of making it fall.

"Karin! Stop!" Toushirou cried, running after her. She paid him no mind and moved on to another tree, kicking so hard that the tree rattled each time. "Karin! Stop now, that's an order!" Toushirou demanded. Simply approaching someone who was in a foul mood like that would definitely mean receiving an injury, which he was not willing to do.

"It's not fair!" Karin finally shouted, stomping on the ground. "Why can't anything be _normal_ around here?! My whole life there's always been some stupid danger that I have to be protected from! When is it going to be _my _turn to do anything?" She gave the tree she had been kicking a final swipe, causing it to teeter but stay it place.

"That's enough!" Toushirou cried angrily. "Nothing is fair, got it? _Nothing_! So get used to the idea!"

Karin stared at him, shocked to the core. Had he always been so… pessimistic? "Toushirou…" she said, not knowing what else to say.

"Listen to me," he said in a cold voice. "A mission has been laid before you. It is to eliminate Aizen in a tag-team consisting of yourself and me. This is an honor that you should be pleased to receive. There are many people in the Soul Society who hold a grudge against him and would gladly take the chance to kill him." The temperature began to drop. "Now, soldier, to kill him with me you must train until you _at least_ reach shikai. You will not stop until that happens." His eyes narrowed in warning. "Go home and rest well soldier. Because starting tomorrow, you're going to be training and training _only._ Forget school and soccer, because this isn't the time to think about pleasant amusements." With that, he turned sharply on his heel and left.

Karin's mouth hung open. Had Toushirou seriously called her soldier, like she was simply a playing piece on a chessboard? She was completely speechless. He had called her soldier _twice._ That was more insult than if he had scolded her like a small child. In the latter case, he would have used her name. _He took up his responsibility as a captain, didn't he? Toushirou can't afford to have an immature person like me ruining the chances of the victory of the Soul Society… Our lives are at stake…_ As her thoughts drifted away, she felt the tears coming.

It was hard, but despite her efforts, the tears fell. And when they did, she knew that she could not stop them. Attempting to choke back a sob, she ran out of the park and towards her school. If anyone was there, it'd only be the teachers. She'd be able to do what she wanted to in peace.

~*~*~

"You are a great fool," an icy voice said.

"Yeah, well, at least I'm able to help _my_ shinigami," replied a hot one.

"You're the one who sucked away most of my power!"

"It's because I love you and I missed you so much, I wanted all of you for myself."

"Don't be ridiculous."

"Sorry."

"Apology accepted. But anyway, what are _we_ going to do? Didn't you say that Aizen didn't want our shinigami to form a tag-team?"

"Yeah, he does."

"Then why did he just challenge them to a battle?"

"How on all things that burn should I know? I've only woken up recently."

"Hmph. This is why _I'm_ the older one."

"Since when have I cared?" the burning, feminine voice retorted.

"Never. She's going to have to be able to call upon you though, because there's no icy way that they'll kill him otherwise."

"There isn't a fiery way either, just to let you know."

"Stop trying to turn this situation into a game."

"Bite me."

"No thanks, last time I did that, you melted half my teeth."

"Wonderful times."

"_Anyway_, just because we know how to work together out there doesn't mean they know how to direct us. And as it is written, we can't do anything without their direction."

"Well, duh, smarty. When we think it's the best time to use those attacks, we'll tell them what to do. They're smart enough to do as we say."

"With his calling her soldier, I don't think she'll want to work with him."

"No. I will talk with her if she won't."

"I can't talk to him and give him a lecture like you can. Make it good."

"You'll be back with him in less than a week, don't slack off."

"Make me."

"Oh, I think I will. When I'm finally let out and he calls on you, I'll tackle you once the battle's over."

"Don't. If you do, I may have to resort to freezing those beautiful scales of yours."

"Yeah, well, I've always been a hardy type."

"Why don't you go comfort the poor girl now? She needs it."

"Fine. Goodbye." The voice paused.

"Anything else?" Her icy, masculine partner asked.

"Just so you know I treasure you very much."

"I do know." With a soft _whoosh _sound, the other figure disappeared from the connection.

~*~*~

Karin was running around the track at school. She'd already cried the last of her tears and wiped away the remains four laps ago. Running like this wasn't a problem as she believed it helped her build endurance. And she would keep running until she literally dropped. _I'm going to prove my worth to him! I'll show him I'm not just some soldier!_

She ran faster, not counting any longer. There was no point in it, as she didn't care how many laps she ran. Karin would not stop until she could move no more, no matter how much her muscles screamed at her to stop.

"You devote yourself to him. I am astonished you would put yourself in physical harm for him."

"I want him to realize that I'm not just a nameless soldier," Karin said through gritted teeth.

"You know that's not what he thinks of you."

"No, I don't."

"Well, he doesn't. He treasures you just like I treasure my mate."

"Then why did he talk to me like that?"

"Because you were acting like a child and he needed to step back into his captain's position to force you to stay focused. Besides, I'm sure that he didn't like the pity party as much as I did."

"S-sorry," Karin mumbled, looking at the ground.

"You're over it now though, right? So there's nothing to worry about. Just attain shikai and then we can work on the tag-team tactics."

"He doesn't have his sword though, how are we supposed to practice?"

"He'll gain it in about a week, don't worry."

"How do you know?"

"I thought I told you that his zanpaku-to and I are friends."

"Yeah, I think you've mentioned it once or twice."

"Well, I've talked to him recently. He'll be back soon, don't you worry."

"I'm more worried about Toushirou."

"I know you love him."

"Thanks for telling me; that's the problem!" Karin shouted.

"What are you mad at me for?" Her companion's voice didn't sound pleased in the slightest.

"How can I love him? How can he love me? We barely know each other!"

"Consider this. You spend nearly every waking moment with him. Compared to that, I don't think that the few visits he and Hinamori-chan shared these last couple of decades means anything."

"What about the time they grew up, huh?"

"Simple. She left him early, when they were in the Academy they didn't interact much. When they had lived together, often he was out or she was. Added together, I'm quite positive that their time together can be added to maybe four months, all hours being slotted in."

"Put it that way, we've known each other less than a month."

"Hardly. You two have known each other for more than a lifetime."

"Don't play games with me, please. That's impossible."

"Please. I don't play games." Karin stopped and raised an eyebrow. "Okay, okay, I like to play games, but I'm not kidding about this."

"I still don't see how that can be." She began to pick her pace back up.

"As part of your soul, I am you, correct?"

"Duh."

"And as part of Hitsugaya-kun's soul, Hyourinmaru is him, right?"

"Yeah…"

"Well, there you go. Through us, parts of you, you have known each other for a very long time."

Karin was silent for a moment, dumbstruck. "That is some twisted logic you've got there," she managed to say at last.

"Whatever works, right?"

"Yeah yeah, whatever." Karin continued running until it was well after dark. She knew that Yuzu would be terrified and that Ichigo would blame Toushirou without question. Her father would probably be sobbing into her mother's poster and Toushirou would be who knew where. Yet it didn't seem to matter. She could only continue; she couldn't stop the rhythm of her feet pounding on the track.

It was maybe two hours later that she finally dropped to the ground. "I can't go on," she mumbled, and promptly collapsed. "I can't move anything…" To prove her point, her pinky wouldn't respond when she tried wiggling it. She attempted to chuckle, but coughed instead. "I guess I did what I wanted, now all I have to do is wait for morning," she muttered before falling asleep.

It wasn't long before Toushirou jogged over to her side and sat down next to her. He had known that she was at the school, he could sense _that_ much at least. "I'm sorry," he whispered to her. "I didn't think you would wear yourself out like this." Gently, he turned her over and maneuvered her until he was holding her in his arms. "Everyone's worried about you. Your brother blamed me for everything of course. I guess he was right, because I was stupid enough to yell at you. You're still a human girl; I shouldn't have treated you like a soldier or a fully-grown adult." She was still sleeping and would likely stay asleep while he was talking.

"Hitsugaya-kun, can you hear me?" a deep yet feminine voice asked. He started, but nodded. Likely it was Karin's zanpaku-to, though he didn't exactly understand why he could hear hers when she couldn't materialize her spirit. "Good. I've needed to speak to you."

"What do you want?" Toushirou asked.

"Take care of her, but be careful. She's still only fifteen."

He felt somewhat ashamed. "Yeah, I know that, I was not exactly gentle with my orders."

"You're just used to ordering around people who look older than you."

"How are you speaking to me anyway?" Toushirou asked, curious.

"Because of a reason I can't tell you."

"I should have known," he grumbled. Zanpaku-tos and their need to keep everything mysterious! "Fine then. Be mysterious."

"Good. Anyway, whenever the two of you are able to activate shikai at the same time, which will be hopefully soon, don't be afraid to make attacks together."

"I will not, if you say so." He was still somewhat doubtful of making fire and ice fight together. She did not speak again, and he relaxed. Karin was still asleep, but he'd need to take her home soon or her brother would get even angrier. He stood up, her still in his arms, and started walking over to her house.

"Karin, I know you can't hear me, so when you wake up at some point I'll tell you this." He took in a deep breath, but continued. "I love you. I know you'll think that there's no way I could, but I do." Now that he said it, it was not as frightening to think about. Of course, there was still the Soul Society to worry about, but he was still allowed to love her from afar, right? So far as he knew, there was no rule against that.

He walked, and was soon at the front door of her house. "Now, I just hope I won't get killed," he muttered, opening the door and stepping in.

"Hitsugaya-kun, did you find her?" Yuzu asked immediately, rushing towards the entrance. She stopped when she saw him.

"Yeah, I found her at the school, at the track." He made to head up the stairs to be stopped by Ichigo.

"Was she like that when you found her?" Ichigo asked, scowling.

"Yes. She was collapsed on the track. She needs to get in bed." He moved past him and went up the stairs.

When Ichigo had heard the door shut, he turned to Yuzu. "Are you _sure_ that they're in love Yuzu? They barely know each other! Especially after that performance, I don't think so."

"Onii-chan, have a little faith in them," Yuzu pleaded. "They really do love each other. They spend so much time together; I don't see how they couldn't. It's in their words and actions, please don't try to ruin their relationship!"

"But he's hurt her Yuzu; can't you see? Her face had tear stains on it!"

"Everyone in love cries from arguments Onii-chan; I didn't say their love was perfect." She began preparing a late meal for Toushirou, who hadn't eaten anything at dinner. "I mean, come on; _you_ still have girl troubles, don't you?"

Ichigo flushed from embarrassment. "How did you—"

"Know? Because I am an observant person when it comes to relationships." She tested the soup, found it acceptable, and began making a tray to go upstairs. Halfway up the stairs, she turned and said, "Onii-chan, Karin-chan loves you, but she doesn't like it when you're overprotective." She smiled and continued up the stairs.

"Hitsugaya-kun, I've brought you some dinner," she said, entering the room she shared with Karin. He was sitting by Karin's bed, so she put the tray on her bedside table. "Do you know what happened to her?" she asked, sitting next to him.

"She purposefully wore herself out," he said, voice tinged with sadness.

"Why?" she asked, surprised that her sister would do that.

"I'm not quite sure, but I think it's because I called her soldier twice."

"Karin-chan wouldn't normally overreact… How did you tell it to her?"

"Rather coldly, like the captain I'm supposed to be."

"That would have done it then. Well, as long as you say sorry to her, I'm sure she'll forgive you."

"Thank you, Yuzu," he said, looking at her with a tiny smile.

"You're welcome Hitsugaya-kun." She smiled in response and stood up. "Eat, and bring down the dishes. See you later." Yuzu shut the door behind her.

He did as he was told and quickly cleaned the bowl. Toushirou leaned down, kissed her on the forehead, and left with the tray. "Good night Karin." The door shut softly behind him.

* * *

In regards as to why Toushirou didn't bother to make Ichigo let go of him in the beginning of the chapter, I don't really know. I figure it was because he just didn't feel like making him let go. Which is lazy of him, but.... Whatever.

Unusually OOC, I know, but please, this thing wrote itself. Seriously. It took all of my willpower to make the stupid chapter end where it did. It was telling me, "No, I'm just going to keep going on and on and on, and there's nothing you can do about it!" Eventually I did though.

Oh! And since today's Valentine's Day, here's a related question. What's your favorite saying on those awful tasting heart candies?

Mine is "I'm Yours." Dunno why, I just like it.


	14. Training Time!

YO. I'm baaaaaaack!! Didja miss me?  
Okay, so, this chapter was way boring. I wanted to skip over the training and get straight to the battle, which may be why this sounds rushed.  
And of course the characters are going to be ooc. All fanfics are ooc. So there.  
Please, these characters aren't mine. I just like to mess with them.

* * *

Karin woke up the next morning stiff and sore all over. It was the price she had to pay for being an idiot and running who knew how many laps around the track. But at least she burned off a ton of weight, something she knew that the girls in her class would be envious of. Of course, _they_ would never run so many laps, only be jealous of their results.

Slowly, she climbed out of bed and dressed herself. Karin didn't put on her uniform, because she knew that Toushirou was going to train her nonstop, so it was useless to put on such nice clothes. Carefully she headed down the stairs, slowly the whole way so as to not aggravate her poor muscles. "Toushirou?" she whispered, heading into the kitchen.

"In here," he replied, "with your brother." He waited for her to slide into a seat to start talking again. "As I was saying, Kurosaki, that's the situation. You're not allowed to interfere in any way whatsoever, and yes, telling Orihime is not allowed by Aizen."

"Who says he'll find out? Listen, we need Inoue's healing abilities for your fight. She can bring back the recently dead, she told me. Soul Society shouldn't lose you, and there is no way I'm going to lose another family member." He firmly crossed his arms and angrily glared at Toushirou.

"Ichi-nii, I don't know much about this Aizen guy, but he'll probably know if you tell Orihime-nee or even Rukia-nee. We'll deal without them. Besides, didn't he say that we could only tell you to help train me?"

"Yeah, well, he didn't listen when I told him his purpose was for training only," Toushirou said.

"How can I be for training only?" Ichigo demanded. "Karin will _die_ in this fight. She's barely been a shinigami for a month! And for a week of that, she's been sick. Three weeks isn't enough time."

"_You're_ the one who ran to the Soul Society with friends that hadn't had their powers for longer than two weeks," Karin retorted. "And look, they survived and are stronger for it. Besides, if I die, I'll just go to the Soul Society and become a real shinigami through the Academy so I know what the heck I'm doing."

"Plus, the surroundings will be to our advantage," Toushirou said calmly. "We'll be training in the area we're to fight in."

"We'll be fine, Ichi-nii, I promise," Karin told him. "It's okay, really."

"Fine," Ichigo grumbled after a moment of silence. "I won't do anything besides train with you. But what will I tell Yuzu if you die? And all your friends?"

"That I was killed in a homicide?" Karin offered. She stood up roughly, wincing at the movement. "But let's not think about that now, all right? We have a lot to do."

Toushirou nodded in agreement and followed her. "But first," he said, "let's do something about your muscles. I'm not going to get you sick so soon after your recovery."

She groaned, but sat at the stairs. "I suppose you've undergone basic medical training or something?" she asked, waiting for him to begin whatever he was going to do.

"All students are required to undergo a course." He muttered something and his hands glowed a slight yellow. Ichigo and Karin watched with interest as he slid his hands half an inch over her body. "Just as I thought. Hold on a moment." Again he muttered, and this time his hands' glow turned a lavender color. As he scanned over her body, Karin noticed that her muscles were no longer screaming for rest; instead, they were crying for movement.

"What'd you do?" she asked when he finished.

"I'm not exactly sure, but the purpose was to make a person's muscles stop being sore and instead ready for movement."

"You weren't paying attention to it?" Karin asked, surprised.

"I had an important meeting that day, and as it turns out, it was the meeting that told me I would become a shinigami even though I was so young." He shrugged. "At least it worked."

Ichigo cleared his throat, and the two looked at him. "Here," he said awkwardly, handing Karin his badge. "Use this and not those soul candies. We can leave your body in your room."

Surprised, Karin took it and returned a few minutes later dressed in her clothes. "Thank you," she said, handing the badge back to him.

"No problem."

"Right, let's go," Toushirou said, heading out the door.

Ichigo and Karin looked at one another. "Why didn't he change?" Ichigo asked.

"Ichi-nii, the reason why we need you is because he's lost his powers and he can't train me with shikai or bankai."

Toushirou twitched at the admittance to his weakness but said nothing. Ichigo stared at him, and then looked at Karin. "So, sucking too much power runs in the family, eh?" He ruffled her hair.

She smiled wryly. "I guess. At least his are returning."

"You'll need them." The seriousness was back.

She nodded, falling silent. The group walked through the town, heading for… where? "Hey, where are we going?" Karin asked.

"Urahara's shop, I'm assuming," Ichigo said, looking at Toushirou.

"We are. I don't like him, but he's the only one in the area with the biggest place for us to train in without being noticed." The three stopped in front of a building smaller than the ones around it.

"This is a candy store," Karin said, staring at the other two.

"It's also a secret shinigami hideout," Ichigo said, chuckling slightly. She followed them inside, still thinking they were crazy.

"Hey, Urahara!" Toushirou called. "We have something to discuss."

Rustling noises were heard, and Kisuke appeared, rubbing his eyes. "Oh, hello my young captain, Ichigo-san. What may I do for you today?"

"We need a place to train in secret," Ichigo said.

"And so you have come to me. I see." The group waited with bated breath as they watched him fan his face. At last, he snapped it shut and smiled. "All right, you can use the basement."

Toushirou blinked in surprise, as did Karin, but Ichigo smiled. "Thanks Urahara!" He led the other two down to the training area. "I used to train down here a lot, so I'm comfortable."

Karin then stared at Toushirou. "Seriously?!" she mouthed. He shrugged in response.

Ichigo stopped suddenly, whipping his sword out and attacking his sister. She instinctively protected herself with hers. Karin opened her mouth to shout at him, but Ichigo stopped her. "Good, looks like you know how to defend yourself," he said, grinning. He pulled back and swung again.

This time Karin expected it. She counteracted with force and then tried to hit him in the ribs. A fierce spar ensued, Toushirou looking on. The siblings fought each other with such ferocity that it was as if they were not battling in a spar but instead were battling for their lives.

Several times Toushirou thought to call out and stop them, but he held back. They were having _fun_, he realized. _So this is where she gets her tomboyish behavior_, he thought, amused. _Her brother is her example._

After hours of instruction, practice, and more sparring between both Ichigo and Toushirou (who had borrowed a wooden sword), they sat down to rest. Ichigo went up the ladder into the shop to get food while the other two rested against a large boulder. Karin waited a few moments before speaking. "Toushirou? What do you think it'll feel like when this is over?"

He turned to her, confused. "What do you mean?"

She shrugged. "I mean, will you feel relieved or something? Because I know I will. I know that the amount of danger my brother will be in will be a lot less. I mean, obviously, he'll still have to do his job and a lot of Hollows will be attracted to his power, but at least he won't have to have Espada following his tail."

He nodded in understanding. "I think I'll feel confused." He saw her look and explained. "I mean, right now I know I have something to do. I have to kill Aizen, for a few reasons. But when he's dead, what will I do then? I don't think I'll be able to go back to my life."

"No one will." She said it with a strange emotion that he had to turn his head to see her face. It held a sort of sadness in it, with peacefulness mixed in.

"Of course," he said. "War gives lasting effects, and nothing is the same. I'm surprised that this one lasted these years. We thought it'd be over a lot sooner."

"Four years isn't that bad," Karin said. "Haven't you ever heard of the English and the French's One Hundred Year War? And it was actually a hundred and ten years!"

He smirked. "Of course I knew that, I studied too."

"Yeah, well, you act like four years is eternity." She smiled, looking relaxed again.

Ichigo returned, and the three of them sat to eat. The food disappeared quickly and almost as quickly Karin and her brother fell back into the training. While they were fighting, Toushirou moved to a more private location, far enough so that he wouldn't somehow get caught in the spar.

Fighting Aizen would be… difficult. Difficult wasn't a good way to put it, but it'd do. He fought for the Soul Society's sake, for Momo's sake, for his betrayed trust, for Matsumoto's pain, and… maybe also for the sake of Karakura. Karin he wasn't worried about. If she died, she'd go on to the Soul Society, unless Aizen had a Hollow eat her soul or something. If she lived, then she'd die years later. Instead, he was worried she'd try to do all the fighting or if Aizen tried picking on her during the fight.

Toushirou tried calming his nerves by concentrating on observing the spar match that took place over the next few weeks. Karin was doing well against her brother, dodging most of his attacks and making a few good moves on her own. Yet what he noticed after some time was that she was best at dodging and running, but her swinging abilities were second rate at best. _Maybe her strong point is not to attack… but to distract? Fire can go either way; it appears that her fire is to distract and defend._

With that thought, he jumped down from his boulder he always observed from and calmly walked towards them. "Stop!" he commanded. The two stopped and stared at him.

"Yeah? What is it? We're barely half-way through warm-ups," Ichigo stated.

"Karin's strong point is not to attack." Karin glared at him, but before she could demand why, he said, "Ichigo, what element would you describe your sister as?"

"Fire, obviously," Ichigo answered.

"Exactly. And with fire, it can be offensive or defensive like most everything else. For Karin, I think it's defensive."

"Why would it be defensive?" Karin demanded. "I can fight just as well as everyone else!" She seemed hurt that she wasn't an offensive type.

"Because you're a whole lot better at running, dodging, and defending than you are at attacking," Toushirou said coldly. "At least with a sword. With your feet, I'm sure they're just as equally offensive as they are defensive."

"Then I'll just kick Aizen to death," she said stubbornly, crossing her arms.

"No. You'll be watching my back while I attack him," he told her. "And if I'm hurt, you'll be able to defend me."

"That's all I'm good for? Defending you? Listen, he's the one threatening to destroy _my_ town, and therefore I ought to have a little more say in the battle plan!" she argued heatedly.

Ichigo looked like he wanted to say something, but was stopped by Toushirou's cold retort. "In case you haven't noticed, _I'm_ the one with more battle experience than the two of you put together! So when I say what battle type you are, and what you'll be doing, you're going to listen to me!"

"Do you have authority troubles or something?" Karin shouted, clenching her fists.

"No, I just have a problem with you! You never listen to what I tell you!"

Shock wiped her anger off her face. She stared, jaw-dropped, attempting to say something, and then bolted.

"You call that training?" Ichigo demanded, finally saying something. He grabbed Toushirou by the collar. "Look what you did to my sister! If you make her cry, I'll break both your arms!" Ichigo threw him to the ground and stalked off in the direction his sister had run.

Toushirou groaned. "How come everything I say goes wrong?" he asked. Then he felt icy cold all over.

"Yes, well, women get hurt easily by men like us."

"Hyourinmaru!" Toushirou exclaimed, surprised and relieved.

"Yes, me. Now, let her calm down. Her other half will take care of her if need be. But I think that she won't."

"If you're here… then that means…" Toushirou pulled out a soul candy and popped it in his mouth. Immediately he jumped out of his gigai in full uniform. A careful smile appeared on his face. He slowly unsheathed his zanpaku-to and began to do practice movements.

After the time without it, he was rusty. Some of his steps weren't as graceful as he wanted them to be, neither were his thrusts as smooth as they used to be. But after nearly an hour of continuous practice, he felt once more at ease with it.

Her eyes were dry and not red. She hadn't cried. Instead she had run and sat against a boulder, thinking. Karin was well aware that to Toushirou she was somewhat annoying in her stubbornness. But she was not happy with the fact that he told her that she wasn't the offensive type. And what was wrong with the idea of just kicking Aizen to death? That might be the easiest thing to do instead of stabbing him with a sword.

After taking her time calming down, she stood up and trotted back to where Toushirou was. In amazement, she watched him fight an invisible enemy with ease—and with his zanpaku-to! How had it come back? "Toushirou!" she called, racing over.

He looked up and straightened himself. "You're back."

"Yeah."

"Where's your brother?"

"I think he's that way. But look at you! You have your sword back."

"Yes. And now… I can train you properly." He grinned, excited.

"Uh-oh," she said. She barely had enough time to pull out her own zanpaku-to. He was attacking her with such ferocity that she couldn't do anything besides defend herself. _Help me… help me, anyone! _she cried desperately.

_Call upon me; I'll help you!_ the dragon answered.

_But I don't know your name!_

_Yes you do! You know my name, now say it!_

"Run…" Karin said softly.

"Excuse me?" Toushirou said, having heard her.

"Run through flames, Honaga!" Karin cried. Her zanpaku-to burst into flame and melted to form a dark orange sword with a fading red ribbon attached. Immediately she pushed him away and tore a line through the dirt. A wall of fire shot up between the two of them.

"Excellent Karin, and just in time. Could you put the wall down?"

"Yeah, sure." _How do I do that?_

_Say 'Die out and leave ashes' and the flames will disappear._

_Thanks._ "Die out and leave ashes." As Honaga said, the flames disappeared, leaving ash and soot.

Toushirou walked over to her and smiled. "Good job Karin." He kissed her cheek quickly and gave her a hug.

"Thanks for teaching me," she said, grinning back. "Let's go find Ichigo and eat!" She headed towards the direction she had seen Ichigo last. "Oh, and while we're at it, can I go to school tomorrow?"

"I suppose. What's so great about school anyway?"

"I can show off to all my classmates how awesome you are."

"No really. What's so great about school? It's really boring."

"I like it because…" she shrugged. "I have no idea. Come on, I'm really hungry!" She grabbed his hand and together they ran to find Ichigo.

* * *

Well, I did it! I finished this chapter yesterday. XD So unlike my wishes, the fanfic isn't done... yet. It's nearing its end though, as you should have noticed.  
Happy Easter everyone! :D


	15. To The End

Hello everyone. I have updated! :D This is the last chapter. It can end here. However... it's going to have an epilogue. So, keep everything in mind.

This chapter isn't the longest, sorry. However, it is the second longest.

And thank you, everyone who voted in the poll! It actually allowed me to pick out which ending I should use. Remember to read the entire chapter before you review.

* * *

The remaining days they had before the battle were spent in three ways: training, going to school, and arguing over a battle plan. Oh, and sleeping and eating, of course. Karin had discovered that her sword's main ability was to form shapes in the air or on the ground and to direct them in different ways.

"Sit upon the frozen heavens, Hyourinmaru!" Toushirou called, easily releasing his shikai. The long chain grew from the hilt with a crescent-moon sickle attached.

"Run through flames, Honaga!" Karin cried, and once more her zanpaku-to melted into the orange sword and grew its ribbons. With the sword's tip, she quickly drew a ring of fire, grabbed it, and threw it towards Toushirou. He ducked and ran towards her, swinging the sickle. Once he was at a closer range, he tossed it, wrapping it around her sword and freezing it along with her hands.

Her arms, however, had not been frozen, so she pulled and managed to draw a triangle in the air to melt the ice. "Come on Toushirou, you've already attacked me with that move twice today!" she complained, yanking her sword out of the chain. She ran, and, drawing a squiggly line, formed a whip. Karin then fought off his subsequent attacks with it until he came too close and she was forced to defend herself with her sword again.

"It's a move that I start out with when I train with people. So, naturally, I'll use it when I train with you," he told her, and backed away.

Then Ichigo dived in between them and forced the two to jump away. "All right! Time for some one-on-two practice!" he called, hefting his sword over his shoulder. "You guys… well, _Karin_ needs it."

"I take insult at that!" Karin shouted back.

"Calm down. Fighting your brother is somewhat like fighting Aizen—they're both very strong. We have to think carefully about what tactics we'll use. Of course… Aizen's abilities are vastly different than your brother's…"

"Stop thinking out loud and move!" Karin exclaimed, shoving him away from Ichigo's attack. The two took a tumble on the ground and narrowly avoided being cut to pieces by the Getsuga Tensho.

When they emerged, Toushirou glowered at the siblings, but was unhurt besides his pride. Ichigo snickered. "I never thought you were a ditz Toushirou!" he called.

Toushirou growled, but held his ground. He was not going to be goaded into fighting so easily. "Yeah, well, at least I know how to control my reitsu!" he taunted back. It was a weak taunt, sure, but it was something.

Karin snickered in the exact image as her brother. "You have nice come backs," she commented.

He pointedly chose to ignore her by ordering, "Charge to his front while I flash-step behind him."

She nodded, seriousness returning, and charged towards her brother. Karin drew a line of fire, grabbed it, hoisted it over her shoulder, and threw it like a spear. Ichigo easily dodged, but his landing wasn't as clean as it could have been because he had to block a sudden attack from Toushirou. While the ice captain kept him busy, Karin ran over and gave his side a sharp poke.

"You're dead," she declared. "At least, you _would_be if I really wanted to kill you."

"All right, I give," Ichigo said, dropping his sword. Toushirou stepped back and nodded at Karin.

"Good work. Now, let's see what we can do with that interesting drawing ability of yours…"

* * *

And so, the three of them trained together. School was a different matter entirely.

"Kurosaki! Those are the wrong lines!" shouted the teacher. "Do you _want_ me to give another person the part? Because I can assure you, there are several other girls who would love to have it!" A few of Karin's female classmates perked up at that statement.

"No! I'm just a little preoccupied, that's all. I don't need my part to be given away." The others' faces fell, and there were mutterings about her only wanting to be with Toushirou—Karin ignored them.

"Well, just _try _to get the lines right. We need Elizabeth to be able to remember her lines! She's witty!"

"I _know_ that. You made us read the book." Karin's eyebrows narrowed at remembering what she and Toushirou would have to do through most of the play. This, basically, was to insult one another and then compliment one another within three breaths of each statement. Although Karin thought it'd be fun to be able to get away with insulting Toushirou, she didn't like the fact that it meant that through most of the play she had no idea of her feelings. Couldn't a woman just decide how she felt?!

Toushirou, however, liked his role better than she liked hers. Darcy was a man a lot like him, so it was easier for him to be in character. Karin was a lot like Elizabeth too, but Toushirou felt that she just didn't like the slightly more feminine woman. Plus, because of her status as the main character and him being the main character's love interest, many death glares had been sent her way. Unfortunately for them, Karin was already stressed out that she didn't need their glares—usually one from her made them cower in fear.

Practice never ran smoothly because of the leads. Often they were found whispering to one another or arguing loudly. While it was difficult to make them get back to whatever scene the cast was practicing when they were whispering, it was practically impossible to force them to end their loud arguments. Even Yuzu, who was properly playing Jane, could not calm her sister down. Instead whenever the two were arguing, the rest of the play members tried working on covering some small scenes—though near impossible, for Elizabeth was in almost every scene. And several of the scenes she was not in had Darcy in them, so that made it even harder.

To top it all off, no one knew what in the world they were arguing about. Most figured it was some kind of game, some sort of online role playing game that the two were taking too seriously. Others (particularly the girls) thought that the two had created some sort of private world and were arguing over the rules.

Only one knew the true reason—Yuzu. Yuzu knew her sister and her friend were arguing about strategy to defeat their enemy. She also knew that the two of them didn't want her knowing, but what they didn't realize was that she had great powers of convincing people to give her the information she wanted. She had tricked her brother into telling her why Karin and Toushirou were arguing so much and why they were always huddled together, bent over sheets of paper.

The papers, he had told her, were of a map and several sheets of battle plans. Some were abandoned; some were set aside to come back to; and still some more were in the process of being drawn out. However, Ichigo had told her not to bother them, as whatever plan they came to they were not going to tell anyone. He had said that they were going to defeat Aizen alone, and _their _way.

Yuzu just hoped that Karin would come back, safe and sound.

* * *

"You're starting to wear yourself out." The voice was not assuming. It was stating a fact.

"I know Honaga! Don't get on my case!" Karin snapped.

"Your fear scent is so strong that a Hollow could smell it all the way from northern Scotland. And you're causing my bedding flowers to wilt."

"I'm afraid. I'll admit it. But this has to be done right! There is no second chance for the Soul Society." Karin chose to ignore the second statement.

Honaga's eyes narrowed, and she growled in irritation. "That's not true. Just because you and dear Hitsugaya would be gone does not mean that the Soul Society would be lost. They'd be missing a powerful captain, sure, but they are quite capable of handling themselves."

Karin slumped to the ground. "You make my effort sound pointless."

"Some of it is." Her lips curled back to reveal the razor-sharp teeth that could probably bite Karin's whole arm off in one clean cut. "Like I was saying, you're wearing yourself out. You need rest, and you need to relax. This is the calm before the storm; take it before you regret not doing as I'm telling you and losing the battle because you were too tired."

"And in the process causing Toushirou to lose. Yeah, yeah, I get it." She rolled over onto her stomach and cupped her hands over her face. "I wish that life would slow down a bit, so that I could enjoy it some more."

"If you survive Karin, life won't slow down. It'll only speed up. Next thing you know and it'll be the day of your wedding."

"What is it with everyone telling me I'll be getting married?" Karin demanded, dropping her hands.

"It's the honest truth Karin. Once a man falls in love with you, he won't be able to stop. You're the type of person who is unpredictable. And that is good. Now sleep."

Before Karin could argue or make a snappy comeback, she felt the tip of Honaga's tail touch her forehead. _She likes doing this to me, doesn't she,_ she thought before promptly falling asleep.

* * *

The wind swept over the bitterly cold plain. It was comfortable to be back in the place he belonged. Toushirou was lying down with his hands behind his head, staring at the sky. Hyourinmaru was flying through the heavens, probably thinking about the finalized plan. For all their bitter arguments and heated whispers, Karin and Toushirou had finally come up with a plan that allowed for at any given time something to go wrong.

He was surprised by the sudden landing of his companion, but tried not to express it. "Do you have something to say Hyourinmaru?"

The dragon was silent for a while, but spoke before Toushirou demanded him to. "The name of Karin's spirit, if you please."

"It's Honaga."

"Exactly." A low rumble came from his throat.

"Your point, if _you_ please." It was annoying when Hyourinmaru did things like that.

"My point is that I am against the idea of her releasing her zanpaku-to at the same time you release me. The last time that happened, it was… weird."

Toushirou was slightly taken aback by his wording. "Weird in what way?"

"We… melded together."

"Wouldn't that make a stronger dragon?"

"It did. But it took forever for the four of us to figure out how to undo it."

"Well, now that you know, what's the problem?"

"It requires you two to kiss while holding hands and then breaking apart your hands and your mouths at the exact same moment."

"Now _that_ is just weird." Not that Toushirou was against kissing Karin, but… in front of his zanpaku-to? He wasn't sure he had the guts to do that. "All right then, so how long ago was this?"

"About four hundred years ago."

"Well, fine, but why can't we do that? I'm not quite sure I understand."

"Quite simple. In that state, we were incredibly hard to control, because the wielders had to both shout the same command _and_ I fear that if we were bound together like that, a wound on one would hurt the other. It didn't happen last time, but don't let it be that way."

"Fine, I'll tell Karin the change in the plan."

"Good. Now go back to the human world. No complaints!" he commanded upon seeing Toushirou's mouth drop open with a complaint forming on his lips.

Toushirou shut his mouth. "Fine," he grumbled, and left his peaceful icy plain.

* * *

The evening meal before the battle was silent except for Isshin's jabbering. Toushirou figured that the father knew what his daughter and houseguest were getting into and was trying to lighten the mood. It wasn't working. They were tense, like a coiled spring. Karin's siblings were either more broody than normal or relatively the same.

Karin didn't want the night to end. It could be the last meal with her family. It wasn't just her siblings and her father; it was Toushirou now, too. He had just as easily slipped into her life and into her heart as they had. As clichéd as it sounded, it was true. What made her wonder was _why_ he had done it so easily. For her, it took most people quite a while to become so important to her. She shook her head, clearing away thoughts. Tonight she was going to rest until it was time for the battle.

After her meal, she headed into her room and flopped onto her bed. After lying still for a few minutes, she rolled over to her window. The very same window she'd been staring out of and whispering to herself when Toushirou had come in and told her to become a shinigami. Had it really not been that long ago? It felt like it'd been ages since her life had gone at a normal pace. Now it was running at a break-neck speed and soon it'd take a dead stop. This battle was that stop.

"Ugh, I hate thinking. It gets too deep," she grumbled. Karin leaned over set her alarm for a few more hours, covered her head with her pillow, and fell asleep.

* * *

She was running, but from what or even for what reason she couldn't tell. Karin didn't even know _where_ she was running to. Something was chasing her right at her heels, and if she turned, she knew she'd die. She was unaware she was in a dream.

She made a sharp turn and skidded to a halt. In front of her lay a river of constantly flowing lava. Fearing whatever it was that was chasing her, she gave a leap and soared through the air. Her heart sank and fear began to rise as she missed the other side completely and splashed into the magma. It engulfed her, but it didn't hurt. Instead, she sank down and continued to sink for what felt like forever.

Finally, she reached the bottom and opened her eyes. Karin was inside a large cavern, with the river of lava flowing steadily as the ceiling. After staring at the phenomenon, she turned to look around her. It was round, brown, and very rough. Stalactites and stalagmites were scattered every which way. She walked through the space, feet sending small echoes in the silent cave.

Moving farther along, she realized that the cave walls were studded with unfinished jewels, making it appear rough. Veins of gold, silver, and copper ran through the floor. It was a place of riches, unlike anything she'd ever heard of. Where _was _she?

A great tremor shook the cavern, causing her to fall to the floor. Suddenly, Honaga smoothly landed in front of her. "You're here… I didn't expect you to find this place so quickly," she muttered. "I guess I'll just have to—"

The alarm rang, and she jolted awake. She shut it off before Yuzu could hear the alarm. "No!" she growled. Honaga was trying to tell her something important! What was that place? What was so unexpected about her finding it? Was it part of her inner world? Was it part of achieving bankai? Way too many questions were going unanswered, leaving her more than a little lost. Toushirou appeared at her door dressed in full uniform as she pulled herself off the bed.

"What should I do with my body?" she whispered, deciding that she could ask about the dream later.

"Here," he whispered back, tossing Ichigo's badge at her. "Use this. He said for you to borrow it."

She gave an awkward smile and pressed the badge to her chest. Instantly she burst out of her body and quickly pushed her empty body onto her bed. The two left the house in silence. Karin's heart was pounding—this was it, this was the final battle.

They arrived at the park almost too quickly for Karin's taste. It was quiet; the swings barely creaked in the breeze. In the back of her mind, she thought that it was as if the entire park was waiting with bated breath. "What do we do?" she whispered to Toushirou. Her voice was strangely calm.

"Follow the plan; what else? Oh, and Hyourinmaru suggested that we don't let out our zanpaku-to at the same time. He said that something bad happened the last time."

"Oh, fine," she muttered back. She followed him towards the center of the park. They didn't know where Aizen would appear, but they figured that the center would be a good place to wait. The two did not have to wait long.

"I'm pleased you two have arrived. I was thinking that you wouldn't come." The two whirled around, hands on their hilts. "Now, now, let's not get hasty," Aizen said, smiling broadly.

"We don't trust you," Karin spat bravely. Honaga was alongside her, growling lowly.

"How very brave of you to say that, little Karin. But, you see, you're dabbling in adult affairs."

"This is every bit my problem as it is the rest of the Soul Society's!" she shot back. But she had to keep her temper in check.

"Ah, yes, the Soul Society." Aizen's eyes glinted with malice. "Tell me, Hitsugaya-kun, how is Hinamori-kun?"

Toushirou let out a wild cry and attacked. Karin was shocked, but she figured that he was letting out his pent-up anger and frustration. According to the plan, she had to be careful to not watch Aizen release his shikai, because if she watched she'd be trapped too and one advantage they had over Aizen would be lost. So she dived towards a nearby tree, released her shikai, and began drawing symbols in the air and on the ground.

"A circle to bind," she whispered, and a hoop was drawn. "A cube to trap," came next as a fiery box appeared next to the hoop. "Go," she ordered, tossing the shapes away. Hopefully they'd slow Aizen down long enough for Toushirou to do damage.

Toushirou was busy clashing swords with Aizen when Karin's fire shapes came whizzing towards them. He moved away as they enclosed themselves around Aizen.

"Now, what is this?" Aizen asked, slightly impressed. "Is this her ability?"

Toushirou didn't answer. He watched as Aizen broke through the binds and attacked him again. "You will pay for what you did to Hinamori," he growled.

"You shouldn't blame me; it's her fault for liking me so much." He backed away and muttered something that Toushirou couldn't hear.

"I _am_ blaming you for taking advantage of her!" Toushirou shouted. He poured all his feeling into his attack and hit Aizen in the shoulder, rendering his arm useless.

His opponent tried striking back; but before he could, a thick wall of flames shot up between them. Karin ran to stand next to Toushirou. "All right, I'm here." She gave him a grin and ran through the flames.

"Karin!" he shouted. He couldn't follow behind her; the flames affected him just as much as they affected Aizen. "Come back here!"

He heard her scream. It sent chills down his spine. "Hyourinmaru, help me here!" he cried. The ice dragon obeyed his wish and sent a forceful blast of water to douse the fire wall. The wall shrunk low enough for him to jump over.

As soon as he had jumped, he dashed over to the two figures. Karin was lying on the ground, gasping, and Aizen was standing with a triumphant smile on his face. "What have you _done_?!" Toushirou demanded. Any previous anger paled in comparison to the inferno blazing inside him.

"Tou…shirou…" Karin gasped, breath growing ragged. He dropped to his knees. "Don't hold back," she said quickly, coughing after the effort. She reached up and clutched his shirt, eyes daring him to not do as she wished.

"Karin, what's happening? You can't be dying!" he said defiantly, grabbing her shoulders. How was he going to beat Aizen without her?

She gave a smile, and shut her eyes. Her grip slackened, and he felt no more pulse in her. Karin Kurosaki, age fifteen, shinigami representative, was dead.

He screamed and jumped at Aizen, who had been watching the scene. "How _dare_ you!" he shouted, hacking his sword at him.

"Hitsugaya-kun, you _really_ shouldn't let your emotions get the better of you," Aizen said serenely, and before he knew what was happening, Toushirou felt himself being stabbed in the stomach.

* * *

While it was true Karin had sent the wall of flames to block Aizen from attacking Toushirou, it wasn't true that she had run up to stand next to him. She continued to draw objects, growing more and more complex. Karin had been working on drawing a quiver to fit her arrows into when she had heard Toushirou's shout and a stabbing noise. Quickly finishing, she slung it over her shoulder, grabbed the bow, and ran back into the scene. Her mouth dropped as she watched Toushirou bleeding to death.

_Honaga, what should I do? He's dying!_ she thought frantically.

_Stay calm; send the purest lick of flame over to him, and it will help staunch the blood flow._

Karin nodded. She held out her hand and willed a flicker of fire to appear in her hand. Once it did, she blew it, and it danced its way over to Toushirou's body. When it arrived, it settled itself onto the wound and slowly the blood began to stop. She was satisfied he'd be fine for the moment and turned back to Aizen.

Clearly he wasn't paying attention to her, as he had his back to her. Of course he thought he had killed Toushirou and was probably thinking of a way to kill her next. Now, obviously, the plan was ruined. What was she going to do? She didn't feel like dying quite yet.

_Honaga… What should I do now?_

_Trust me. Take Hyourinmaru into your hands and wield the two of us._

It was a strange request, but Karin formed a whip and snatched the other zanpaku-to. She found it easy to carry in her hand, though it _did_ feel heavier than Honaga.

Then a memory, or maybe a vision, whispered into her mind. She slowly, like she was being hypnotized, crossed the swords and willed all of her fire power into hers and begged Toushirou's ice abilities to be poured into his. The two glowed intensely in scarlet red and blue so pale it almost appeared white. "Aizen!" she shouted. He turned; surprised she had come to die so quickly. "This is when you die!" She threw the swords at him.

They whizzed through the air. Karin knew they would not miss their mark. However, she was surprised when she saw that they were melding together. Slowly they turned into a thin sword split half-and-half into fire and ice, with one long, frayed red ribbon and the cold sickle-chain. She watched, unflinching, as it stabbed Aizen in the heart.

"Well done," he congratulated, and fell. Her enemy, their enemy, the world's enemy, was dead. She slowly, cautiously, moved towards where he and Toushirou stood. Karin stopped to stand next to her friend's body.

That's when the pain hit her. Excruciating, overwhelming pain that there was no escape from. It burned her insides and froze her skin. Karin fell on top of Toushirou's body. She screamed and screamed and kept screaming until she couldn't scream anymore because she had screamed herself hoarse. So she kept screaming a silent scream until the pain became so mind-splitting that she passed out.

* * *

Slowly, he opened his eyes. He was lying on a futon, with bandages wrapped around him. After confirming the fact that, yes, he was still alive he pulled the covers off of him and slowly sat up. Then he noticed Karin was lying in a futon next to him. She was all right, she hadn't died! They had won! A smile crept onto his face. "Good job Karin," he said, leaning over and kissing her cheek.

She moved, opened her eyes, and then she shot up. "What's going on? Where's Aizen?" she demanded, then she saw that she was no longer wearing her robes and instead was dressed for bed. Karin then clasped her head. "I swear, I've got the world's biggest headache."

"I'm glad to see that you're all right," Toushirou said. She turned and grinned widely.

"We did it! I killed him. But I don't really remember much after that, besides standing next to you and feeling intense pain."

"Wonder why that would be." Before the two could think about it any longer, the door burst open and a very familiar person bounded into the room.

"Taichoooooooouuu!!!" Matsumoto sang, gathering him into a hug. "I'm so happy to see you're all right!" She then saw Karin and squeezed her too. "And Karin! You've grown up so much!" Behind her one more figure stepped in.

"Karin-chan, Hitsugaya-kun," Orihime said softly. She had become more and more reserved ever since she had returned from Hueco Mundo. "Thank you."

"No problem," Karin said. "Were you the one that healed my throat? I thought I screamed it hoarse."

Orihime shook her head. "That was Urahara-san. I'm here to heal any remaining injuries." She gave a small smile and knelt next to the two of them. Her fairies appeared and began to bask Karin and Toushirou in their healing glow.

"Oh, good, you're in here," came a second voice. Rukia strode in, dressed in full uniform. She seated herself next to Matsumoto. "Thank you," she said, bowing. "You two have saved the Soul Society."

"Well, he was threatening my town too, so…" Karin trailed off. It was embarrassing, having someone bow to her.

"Karin!" Ichigo shouted, thundering into the room and over to her side. "Oh, good, you're here Inoue." A look of relief came over his face.

"Well, I couldn't just let Urahara-san heal the two of them, now could I? Besides, my ways are more effective. And please call me Orihime. I think we're close enough now to be calling each other by our first names." Rukia nodded in agreement.

"Uh, okay then." He was surprised by her words, but sat down. "Karin, how'd it go? Urahara-san said he found you lying on top of Toushirou near to Aizen's dead body."

"Well, yeah, that's true. Toushirou did most of the fighting. I was supposed to form shapes through most of it until we were sure Aizen had activated his shikai. It happened, so I came out and found Toushirou bleeding to death. Honaga—my zanpaku-to—told me to do something to help staunch the blood flow, which I did. Then she told me to take Toushirou's sword, which I did as well, and then I shot the two swords at Aizen. When I did that, they… sort of melted together. I knew then that Aizen was going to die, because that sword of fire and ice would not miss." She said it with such conviction that it was hard to doubt her. "The battle was over, and I went back over to Toushirou to make sure he was all right. Then I felt an overwhelming pain. I passed out on top of him." She shrugged slightly. "The only thing I'm wondering is why I felt such an enormous pain."

"That would be because your two swords were one and you were feeling Toushirou's wounds, only amplified," Urahara said from behind them. "It is very rare for zanpaku-to to be able to come together like yours."

"Hyourinmaru said that we had to do something special in order to separate them," Toushirou said. Orihime had finished her healing session and retracted her fairies. "Except it was only for when the zanpaku-to were released."

"The easiest thing for you to do," Rukia suggested, "is to place your hands on the zanpaktu-to. Maybe if you will them to separate, they will."

"That's a good idea, let's try it," Karin said earnestly. Urahara brought forth the sword. The flames hadn't died down any farther, and the ice hadn't melted yet. He set it down between the two of them.

Karin placed a hand on the ice side, and Toushirou placed a hand on the fire side. "Honaga, I ask you to please return to me."

"Hyourinmaru, it is wise to separate and become your own sword again."

The sword glowed and then shattered. The group looked surprised, but the pieces began forming themselves back into the two swords again. Honaga melted from sight, as Karin was in her body and not in her robes.

"Nicely done," Matusmoto said proudly. "We'll leave you two now, you still need your rest." She stood up and promptly dragged the others out of the room.

"Karin Kurosaki… you are simply amazing." He didn't have any better words for it; she really had done it. "I'm so proud of you."

"Only proud?" she pouted. "Toushirou, I love you, and I think that's why I was able to defeat him." She smiled at him, eyes glinting with glee.

"I love you too, Karin." He drew her into a deep kiss.

Aizen was dead. The world was safe… and they were in love.

Somewhere, two dragons of ice and flame joyfully played in the sky.

* * *

Soooo... how was it? I hope you all liked it! It was actually my best battle scene. XD I realize that they beat Aizen without activating bankai, but I like my way better.

Do you think it unreasonable, that after so many years of fighting battles together and doing so many things as friends, that Orihime would request Ichigo to call her by her first name, and she be allowed to call him by his? I don't.


	16. Epilogue

Hey guys! Finally, after nearly two months, I have completed the epilogue. I hope you like it better than the fifteenth chapter. I am ashamed that I wrote so poorly, and in the editing I will make sure to write a longer, action-filled battle.

You guys might be wondering if there will be a sequel. There won't. Why? Because I don't want to. I have other stories to write, and I wouldn't know what to write the sequel about. However, I am thinking of writing little oneshots that pertain with the story, like maybe an adventure during the other months of Toushirou's training Karin or a day at the Academy or something.

As always; Bleach doesn't belong to me!

Enjoy, and please review! :D

* * *

With Aizen dead at last, things began to settle. Toushirou completed the six months' training with Karin. During that time, the two of them, along with Ichigo and his friends, managed to destroy half of the Arrancars' numbers making Arrancars almost as rare as they had been before Aizen's interference. It wasn't an uncommon sight to see Karin looking tired every morning from her nightly escapades, but eventually the bags under her eyes disappeared as the attacks occurred less often at night—besides, her brother could handle them.

When it was time for Toushirou to leave, he had mixed feelings. Momo was waiting for him in the Soul Society, home. Karin would be waiting for him in Karakura Town, which had become a sort of vacation home (if one could call it that). How could he face his one-time love? How could he leave the one that held his heart now?

It didn't matter. His time was up, but he'd come back to visit. Toushirou smiled at the thought as he packed his gigai away. Karin would wait, he knew that much. He headed out the door and stopped in the street. Karin smiled from the gate to her house, having followed him.

"Goodbye," she said. "I'll miss you." She attempted to grin, but it turned out strained.

"I'll be back to visit," he promised, producing a true smile from her.

"Good! If you don't, I'll storm into the Soul Society and melt your butt off!" Her facial expression meant every word of it.

"Then I guess I'd better make it soon," he joked as he opened the gate back. He gave a final wave, stepped through the doors, and was gone as they shut behind him.

* * *

By the time Karin and Yuzu were twenty-two, Karin was no longer a shinigami. She had suspected that her time was only temporary, and had been proved correct when one day before training, she couldn't step out of her body with a soul candy or by any other means. Yuzu continuously told she was sorry, but Karin knew there was no point in moping over her loss. When she finally died and went to the Soul Society, she'd get them back.

What struck her as odd was why her brother never lost his powers.

* * *

"Karin-chan! Look out!" Yuzu screamed suddenly, causing Karin to turn. She had no time to run, and she flinched from the impact. She flew through the air, and blacked out as she landed.

She opened her eyes to find herself in the lava-ceilinged cavern again. "What is this place?" she muttered to herself. "I haven't seen it in years."

"And a good thing too," a deep voice said from behind her. "You're only supposed to be here when you die."

"Honaga?" Karin asked tentatively, turning to see her companion for seven years. She grinned upon seeing her. "From your statement, I guess I'm dead. Why did I see it the first time, though?"

"Your dreams are always weird. Maybe some part of your soul feared death so badly that it thought itself dead. It's the best I can come up with."

Karin twitched at the dragon's words, but brushed them aside. _I suppose they can't be all-knowing._ "So, I'm dead. What do I do now that I'm here?"

"If you have noticed, this place is beautiful."

"Duh Honaga."

"Don't 'duh' me. Anyway, the jewels and the precious metals represent certain aspects of your life. Your personality, your memories, hopes, and even some dreams. All of them represent a different part of you."

"Okay…?" She was waiting patiently for the fire dragon to finish. Patience wasn't exactly her strong point though.

"You must leave one of them behind."

"What do you mean?" Karin demanded angrily.

"When you reach the Soul Society, usually you will not remember anything from your past life except for an inkling of how you died. But you're a special case… I suspect your brother will be the same when he dies."

"You want me to pick out a part of me that I want to do away with?"

"You're not going to remember—if it's a part of your personality, you'll still have it, sort of. You just won't consciously know about it, and it will affect your life differently. If you don't want your memories, then unfortunately all those will be gone, except perhaps small dejá vù when doing certain things. You give up a part of you, and it will be forgotten. But you must choose what you will give up."

"How long do I have?" Karin asked.

"You have until I come to ask. That will be in seventy-two hours." With that, Honaga flew up through the cavern in a fluid motion.

"There _are_ some memories I could do away with," Karin said thoughtfully, sitting down. "But I think that if I give up one, I have to give up them all. I don't want to forget about my family… or Toushirou.

"My hopes aren't very important now; all I wanted was to be important to someone, play some soccer, and have a good life. I did. But who knows what'll happen if I give that up?"

She paused, thinking. "By my dreams, I'm assuming she means the ones I had while sleeping. Some affected me in more lasting ways than others." Karin thought of the time she had a dream about where someone (it had occurred when she was five) made her choke on leeks, therefore causing her to never eat them again.

"With my personality, I could choose anything. I could make myself forget my shortcomings, but that would affect my good parts. I don't want to erase a part of myself."

She exhaled irritated. "I don't want to do this. But I have to. What should I forget?" How could she choose? Memories? Hopes? Dreams? Personality parts? As she pondered what to do, she strode through the cavern, touching the gems, stroking the veins of the metals, feeling what they stood for, determining their worth. At last, she came up with a choice.

Karin was lying by a glowing pool when she felt the tremor of Honaga's smooth landing. She looked up and gave a smile to her friend.

"You've chosen, I presume?" Honaga asked.

"Yes. I want to forget my dreams. The worst parts of my life, I'd have to say, are my dreams."

"All right. You'll be slightly different, of course, as _every _part of you is affected by your dreams. But you'll still be you." Immediately, all the copper melted away into nothingness, replaced by the stone floor. "Goodbye, I will see you in the Soul Society."

Karin closed her eyes as the customary tail touched her forehead and she fell asleep.

* * *

When she awoke, she found herself sprawled across the ground on top of a hill. Slowly sitting up, she realized it was a place of her memories—it was the hill that she had asked Toushirou to be on her soccer team. Karin gave a wild laugh, remembering how he had been mad at her. "So much has changed," she commented, looking out over the city.

The sun was setting, casting its bright orange glow, making the city look like it had been made from orange. _What a pretty sight. I wonder how Yuzu is…_ She frowned as she thought of her sister. They were twenty-three, almost out of college, and Yuzu had recently been engaged. Who was going to be her Maid of Honor now? Oh well. Yuzu had a lot of friends, so one of them could fill in Karin's place.

Footsteps caused her to jump up, her own feet sliding into a fighting position. Then, upon seeing who it was, she relaxed. "Rukia!" she called out happily, jogging towards her friend. "It's nice to see a familiar face, vice-captain," Karin said, grinning.

Rukia smiled, pleased that Karin had acknowledged her rank. "It's nice to see you're all right. I was in the area, doing a routine checkup on the shinigami posted around here, when I heard that you were no longer one of the living."

"You can say dead, I'm okay with it. I'm just worried about Yuzu."

Rukia was slightly surprised that Karin would be so at ease with being dead, but she supposed that since the young woman had spent her life dealing with the dead, she'd accept death without problems. "Your sister will be fine. She insists that you be careful and wait for her in the Soul Society, whether or not she remembers you. I'm sure, with the way she attempted to revive you that she'll end up on the Fourth Division."

"You think? I think that too."

"Are you ready to go?" Rukia asked quietly.

"Yeah. There isn't a point in saying goodbye, when I know all my brother has to do is ask to see me." They both snickered at that. Captain-Commander had granted Ichigo permission to come to the Soul Society at will, along with any friend he wished. It was a good idea too, because if the orange-haired man wished to enter the Soul Society, he would, legal technicalities done away with.

"Well, okay, good luck. Once you're there, I'd look for the Soul Academy right away and sign up. It's nearing the time they're letting in new students." Gently, she pressed her sword against Karin's forehead. Karin smiled, liking the feeling pouring through her body, and disappeared.

* * *

It had taken a while to actually find the entrance to the Soul Academy, but find it she did. First, she had had to figure out which district she was in (she had ended up in the eleventh district—not bad), and from there she had to inquire about the Soul Academy. It turned out she had to head towards the gates into the Seireitei, as each of them had sign up posts. The one closest to her was the very same gate her brother had first approached upon entering. Near the gate was the post, and she signed up. It didn't take much; the shinigami at the gate confirmed that she had spiritual pressure and asked her to form a ball of spirit energy. She complied, even going so far as to bounce the ball up and down and juggle it out of boredom.

Once she was in, she groaned. It was the same old prejudices, except with an ancient twist. The rich nobles ruled the school, other kids from the bad parts of the Rukongai were the troublemakers, and then there were the kids like Karin, who just wanted to get school over with. Karin had to share a dorm room with a girl from the twentieth district, and had grown to like her.

One day before the first class of the day (it was kidou that day) the professor announced that the captains and their vice-captains would be visiting later that week to see who they might like on their division in later years. Many students were excited, as the visit only occurred twice a year. Karin, however, was feeling somewhat nervous. She knew that a few of those ranking members would know her, and most would recognize her last name. What she didn't want was to be called out. One thing she hated was attention and she didn't need the other students to realize exactly _who_ was in their midst. She was content to sit back and go through the entire education without being forced into a high-ranking position before she graduated.

If she was lucky, they would ignore her enough for that long. She just needed to be low profile. Her roommate, Aya Mizushika, liked to color her hair a lot. If she could borrow some of the coloring products, she'd dye her hair a semi-permanent light brown, and she'd put her hair up instead of leaving it down. It had also been a few years since any but Rukia had seen her, and she hoped that they would remember her face as her younger self. Karin figured that Rukia would keep her identity quiet long enough for her to explain her need to finish all of school. She'd already been cheated out of college after all.

Aya made no comment on Karin's request to color her hair. She also let Karin borrow her favorite teal hair tie. "There, now you look unrecognizable!" she exclaimed upon seeing the completed masterpiece.

Karin grinned in thanks. Not only did she adjust her hair, she also tied her pants to the side and had her shirt worn differently than she normally wore it. _Now, to see if this works; I hope it does._ The two headed for their first class—sword movements.

The first order of the day had been to master the jumping attack. While the class was working on it, Captain Ukitake and Vice-Captain Kuchiki arrived. Rukia looked around with a hopeful look on her face. She knew that Karin had to be around somewhere; after all, nothing could stop Karin when she was on a mission. One of the women looked vaguely like her, but from what she remembered of Karin, she never wore her hair up and her hair was darker. Something told Rukia that the girl in question was a lot stronger than she looked, because she was masking her spiritual pressure so tightly that barely a wisp could be sensed. She was strong, or at least advanced enough to hide her spiritual pressure, so Rukia'd keep an eye on her.

* * *

Karin ended up lucky all the way up until the last semi-annual visit before she graduated. The captains and vice-captains had passed her off as smart and good with a sword, and not one (except Rukia her second visit) had come over to her and asked if she was Karin Kurosaki. Her professors every visit seemed to make it a point not to ask her anything or have her demonstrate anything, to her relief. But her last visit was an event that she knew could have gone better, had she remembered.

She'd been training hard the night before so that she hadn't had time to color her hair and had even forgotten about the visit entirely. Aya hadn't thought much of it, so she made no move to ask her friend about whether or not she wanted to color her hair. That morning, Karin let her hair down and dressed her normal way. Her spiritual pressure was under control, but still bouncing around and all over the place.

That was until _he_ had stepped into the courtyard, followed by his lovely vice-captain. Her eyes widened so wide that Aya feared that her friend's face was going to crack. Immediately, her spiritual pressure retracted, leaving barely a flare, and Karin's hands flew to her hair. "Quick, Aya, give me a hair tie!" she hissed, hoping he wouldn't notice.

"Why? Karin, what's wrong?" she asked, confused.

"No time to explain, just do it!" Karin whispered frantically.

Too late. He had found her, and wasn't going to let her off easy. "Duel. _Now._" His icy eyes glared at her that she almost felt her skin ice over.

"But, Captain Hitsugaya," she began to protest, "class isn't—"

"No buts Kurosaki. _Now._" Without warning, his zanpaku-to was out of its sheath and had attacked her, leaving her to whip her own out just in time.

"Fine, have it your way Toushirou," she hissed, causing her classmates to gape. Had she just been familiar with one of the greatest captains in the Soul Society? Who would she be familiar with next, Captain Kuchiki? "Run with flames, Honaga!" she cried, causing Toushirou to jump back and release his as well. Her classmates watched with a mixture of awe and surprise. She hadn't struck them as the type to figure out what her spirit's name was before graduating.

Instantly she drew a hoop, and threw it at him. He dodged and swung his sickle chain at her. It knocked her off balance, but she recovered in time to block his sword attack. Karin then swiped at the ground, causing a wall to shoot up and stop him from approaching for a while. He came to her other side, but she was ready this time with a dagger made of fire.

She stabbed him in the legs with her fire dagger, causing him to wince in pain. Manipulating their close proximity, he dragged his sword along her arm, causing her to howl in fury. Tossing the fire dagger aside and crying, "Die out and leave ashes!" she fell backwards, making him topple over her. Karin then catapulted him over her head, rolling to her feet.

Toushirou made a smooth landing, swung his chain again, and slowly sharp and dangerous icicles formed, causing Karin to worry. She then began to draw a shield, and almost as soon as she had finished, the icicles dove towards her. She blocked several of them, but the rest trapped her onto the ground or were piercing her skin. She screamed, her body trying to get rid of the icy pain.

Hitsugaya walked calmly over to her, and pointed his sword at her throat. "Surrender now or I'll cause more pain."

"Just let me make one request."

"What?" he growled.

"Give me a kiss, and I'll surrender. On the lips mind you." Her face broke into a grin.

"What if I refuse?" he said, blanching. Not in front of all her classmates, surely? What was she thinking?

"Then I guess you'll have to inflict more pain, because I don't want to surrender otherwise. I highly doubt you want me dead."

"You'll have to command your shield out of the way," he muttered.

"Sure. Die out and leave ashes," she commanded, and the shield disappeared into ash. "Do it now before sensei comes," she said helpfully.

He leaned down and gave her a quick kiss, much to his embarrassment. "There, happy?"

"Very much so. I'm pleased to see you again. Now get these icicles _out of me_!" she cried, face wincing in pain. They were burning her, even though her body was trying to melt them down.

With a wave of his hand, they became nothing more than water. He pulled her up, and Matsumoto came over with a first aid kit. "Geeze, Taichou, I wasn't expecting you to hurt her that much."

"For her benefit, I wasn't expected to be stabbed by a fire dagger. How'd you make it anyway?" he inquired.

"I've been working on it for a while… It's been slow going. They're not as sharp as I'd like them to be, and they take a while to make. That was the fastest I've ever made them so far."

At that point, their sensei decided to enter the courtyard, preparing himself to introduce the students to the first pair of officers visiting them when he stopped short. His visitors were speaking to Kurosaki! Pulling one of his students aside, a young man who looked about nineteen called Kochi, he demanded to know what was going on.

"Sensei, Kurosaki fought the captain! And she even managed to injure him. He won, of course, but—sensei?" He watched surprised as his teacher marched over to Karin.

"Kurosaki, what were you thinking, battling one of the captains? You're lucky you're not dead!" He glared at her, and turned to Toushirou. "I've been suspecting it for a while now…" he said, barely loud enough for the rest of the class to hear.

"It's correct," Toushirou said a smug smirk on his face. "This is Karin Kurosaki, sister to Ichigo Kurosaki, daughter of Isshin Kurosaki, and last but not least, the one who helped me defeat Aizen."

"I did most of it," Karin muttered, causing Toushirou to laugh.

"No, you didn't," he said in an almost cheerful way. "Anyway, how could you all not know this? Kurosaki isn't exactly a common name."

Aya was the first one to speak. "We just didn't think that one of our heroes from the Winter War would be dead!"

Karin laughed. "Would you believe that I died from a car crash? I could've died in a worse way, couldn't I?"

Toushirou gave her an odd look, and whispered to her, "You told me once you had a dream about dying in a car crash, and declared it the worst way to die."

Karin had a moment of confusion, but shrugged. "I guess I forgot," she whispered back. He shrugged it off, and the rest of the day passed relatively normally. If it weren't for the facts that the entire school had heard that Karin was there, or that she had fought the Tenth Division's captain (and had even kissed him), Karin would have thought that it was just like all the rest of their visits.

Subsequently, several offers for her to graduate early and join a particular division annoyed Karin for the next few weeks before she had finally gone to the headmaster of the school and demanded that the invitations stop. She was going to graduate, and she was going to be placed on a division that she was best suited for. "Though, I _would_ like to be placed on the Tenth Division," she added, grinning a little. "But, if I'm not suited, then I'm not on that division." Following that comment, she left her headmaster's office.

* * *

Nervously, she entered her new room. She was now the fifth seat of the Tenth Division, and hadn't seen Toushirou or Rangiku since shortly before her graduation ceremony. Of course, she'd been delighted that she was with the both of them (and therefore people she knew) but was disappointed that she hadn't seen them. Setting her pack down on her bed, she looked out the window into the pretty flower garden that Matusmoto had planted a few years before. She then decided it'd be nice to enjoy the view outside instead of in her room, so she stepped out and sat down on a bench.

It didn't take long for him to arrive. "Do you like it?" he asked, sitting down next to her.

"It's very nice, but I'm sure that Yuzu would like it better than me," she said.

"Then we'll just have to make sure she sees it once she joins our ranks," he commented.

She made no comment on his statement, merely accepting it as fact. "You're not mad at me for hiding my identity?" she asked, her eyebrows rising as she spoke.

Her warm naivety always made him smile inwardly, this time managing to slightly smile outwardly. "Well, you didn't exactly hide yourself. I can sense your spiritual pressure anywhere, no matter the amount." He paused for a moment. "Besides, Hyourinmaru was starting to make annoying comments about how he knew someone _very_ important was at the Academy."

She laughed. "All right then. But why didn't you pick me out sooner?"

"Rukia told me you wanted to keep low profile. I was planning to quietly select you to be my fifth seat, but then I couldn't resist it anymore when I saw you as yourself instead of in a disguise."

"The _one_ day I forgot about what was happening," Karin moaned. "Those icicles _burned_ Toushirou," she snapped when he saw him snickering. "I don't know if you haven't noticed, but my skin is warmer than most people's and reacts badly to the cold, same as you. Except opposite," she added hastily when he opened his mouth to correct her. Her eyes narrowed. "Next time, use those icicles and I will pay you back in ways other than combat."

He didn't doubt her as he nodded. "You've grown since I last saw you." She looked so beautiful now that she had grown up, with hair reaching down her back and face losing its childish appearance.

"So have you," she fired back. "You're taller now, and quite handsome in that mature way. But I'm pleased that your eyes remain the same, except perhaps somewhat smaller."

"I like how you grew up too. You should keep your hair long like that, and tied back."

"So you liked the part about it being tied up? I'll keep that in mind." They sat in companionable silence.

For someone with such a fiery, vivacious personality and another with a cold, commanding one, the Divisions were surprised that the two worked so well together. Karin slowly worked her way through the ranks and became Toushirou's third seat, taking on the paperwork that Matsumoto never seemed to do. Occasionally she and her captain would spar, sometimes making a tie but mostly with Toushirou winning (even though she won every now and then). Perhaps what perplexed the Divisions most were the heated (and freezing too, now that they thought about it) arguments about battle tactics the two seemingly forgot about most of the time, making the rest wonder how they could forget each other's approach at making an argument. Most would shiver with fear as Toushirou's voice and the room's temperature dropped lower and lower, and many would also feel the heat burning their skin as Karin's eyes glared at them harder and her voice grew more and more ignited.

Yet somehow the two stayed in love, despite one being ice and the other fire.

Who's to say that fire and ice don't mix?

* * *

Hopefully it was better than the last chapter? Please review, and check out my other stories! :3

By the way... IT'S FINALLY OVER!!! :D :D :D I'm actually glad this story is complete.


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